SERMONS 

TO 

PRESBYTERIANS OF ALL SECTS; 



SUPPLEMENTARY TO SERMONS 

UPON THE 

MINISTRY, WORSHIP, AND DOCTRINES 

OF THE 

PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 



BY G. T. CHAPMAN, D. D, 




HARTFORD : 
PUBLISHED BY F. J. HUNTINGTON. 
1836. 



Entered according to act of Consress,in the year 1836, by George T. Chapman, in the Clerk's 
office of the District Court of Maine. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 
1836, by George T. Chapman, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of Connecticut. 



PREFACE. 



The object of the ensuing discourses is to show the obli- 
gation of all believers in Christianity to renounce the way 
of schism, and attach themselves to the apostolick church 
of Christ. To effect a purpose, so important and valuable, 
it has been thought necessary, to enter at large into the 
consideration of moral or religious obligation. In this 
volume, the reader will therefore find the principle main- 
tained, that we are bound to obey all the commandments 
of God, and that nothing, save the existence of those com- 
mandments, creates a distinction between right and wrong, 
so as to make human beings righteous or unrighteous, in 
the divine sight ; so as to make them the subjects of re- 
ward, through Christ, on the one hand, or of punishment 
on the other. In prosecuting the design, ample discussion 
has been bestowed upon certain topicks, which of late have 
only attracted publick attention, to perplex the honest in- 
quirer, and prolong the delusion of the mere partisan of 
some one of our numerous creeds. I allude to the strange 
and unfounded theories usually entertained, in relation to 
the essentials and the non-essentials of religion — the nature 
of sin — the relative importance of moral and positive insti- 
tutions — of the great and the little commandments — the 
necessity of sacramental obedience — the effect of sincerity 
in errour, and of ignorance of the gospel requirements. 
More interesting subjects could not be examined, and con- 
fidently do I believe, that the true scriptural doctrine, per- 
taining to them, has been rightly maintained ; firmly am I 
persuaded, that they have a most material bearing upon the 
long debated question of the church and its ministry, their 
origin and their authority. 

The sermons are addressed to presbyterians of all sects, 
because all sects are presbyterians, who make no claims to 
the ministry, beyond such as are derived from the ordination 
of presbyters. They were not written for the purpose of 
delivery, and in a few instances may not seem to have an 



iv 



PREF A CE. 



appropriate designation. But excessive formality forms no 
part of my creed. If the truth be inculcated, no matter in 
what shape it appears. The title of " sermons" has been 
preferred, because of the supplementary relation they bear, 
to the series, appearing in a former volume. 

Freely also is it admitted, that many of the dissenters 
will fully coincide in opinion with me, as to most, if not all, 
of the elementary principles, which have been enforced, and 
where this is the case, no imputations can be justly supposed 
to rest upon them. Nor is it to be understood, that the 
unitarians of this country are chargeable with the excesses 
of the German and other foreign neologists. Whatever 
may be the tendencies of the system, they must be acquit- 
ted of all existing intention to reduce them to practice. 
Among them, I am happy to recognise some of our most 
estimable citizens, in the various moral, civil, political, and 
literary relations of life. Though I cannot subscribe to 
their theology, I am equally incapable of branding them 
with opprobrious epithets. They are not deserved, and are 
utterly inconsistent with the spirit of genuine Christianity. 

To God's gracious favour and protection is committed 
this humble effort to promote the prosperity of the church, 
washed and sanctified by the precious blood of our redemp- 
tion. Affectionately is it commended to the perusal of all, 
who aspire to the purity and perfection of the christian 
character, especially to the dissenting clergy, to all candi- 
dates for the ministry of the Lord Jesus, and to the students 
in our numerous theological seminaries. If it should be 
thought to present stronger statements, in relation to the 
consequences of schism than appear in the volume, which 
has preceded it, let it be ascribed to the more apprehensive 
convictions of my own mind, arising from the constantly 
increasing and deplorable evils, growing out of our reli- 
gious dissensions. If it should materially assist in arresting 
the progress of so dreadful a calamity, it wiJl be to me a 
source of abundant joy, that the promise is, " They that be 
wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament ; and 
they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever 
and ever." 

Portland, May 7, 1836. 



SERMON I. 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

for zion's sake will i not hold my peace, and for 
Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETII. 

These words can never be too familiar to the mind, nor 
attract too much of the attention, of frail and dying men. 
Originally, they constituted the vow of a prophet, wonder- 
fully zealous, in his day and generation, for the honour of 
God, the honour and prosperity of a church, founded in in- 
finite wisdom and pregnant with the issues of everlasting 
life. More than eight years have elapsed, since they were 
adopted, as the vow of an ambassador of Jesus, who would 
fain rival Isaiah, in the ardour and devotedness, with which 
the distinguishing features of a far more glorious church 
deserve to be deeply engraved upon the fleshly tables of 
the human heart, and boldly proclaimed throughout the 
habitable globe. Yes, the vow is upon me, and by God's 
grace the vow shall be kept. No fears shall baffle and no 
perils awe. My peace I will not hold, rest I will not take, 
until the righteousness of Zion go forth as brightness, and 
the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. 

For intruding these discourses upon the presbyterian 
publick, for addressing them to that respectable body of 
believers in Christ, who, no matter what name they assume, 
whether it be presbyterian, congregational, baptist, univer- 
salis!, unitarian, or any other, are the advocates of ministe- 
rial parity, are attached to the one single ecclesiastical 
office of presbyter or elder, I have not the shadow of an 
apology, with which to conciliate a smile or to avert a 
frown. No, brethren ! Both art and flattery I scorn to 
1 



6 



SERMON I . 



employ. They would be insulting to you, degrading to 
me. If the march of truth, if the clearing away of the 
rubbish of errour, can only be effected by the aid of such 
pioneers as these, my pen is worthless and its occupation 
gone ; ye may now close this book and apply your seal 
hermetically to its lids. But if ye love truth for the sake of 
truth, read with candour, judge with impartiality, look to 
Jesus in the prayer of faith, and ye shall know the truth, 
and the truth shall make you free. 

Time after time, have the friends of apostolick order 
and the ministry by the apostles, endued with power from 
on high, divinely established, time after time, have they been 
charged with harbouring unkind and even inimical feelings 
towards their fellow christians. Nothing else, it would 
seem, could enlist their zeal in favour of episcopacy; 
nothing else cause them to take so decided a stand against 
the validity of presbyterian ordination. But what ground- 
less reasoning is this ! Where natural antipathies exist, I 
do not find that water has any tendency to combine with 
oil ; as yet, the wolf does not dwell with the lamb ; nor 
the leopard lie down with the kid ; nor the calf, the young 
lion, and the fatling together. If then this supposed hostil- 
ity doth actually prevail, why are we not presented with 
the like unequivocal symptoms of inherent repugnance? 
Why, brethren, do ye not clearly show, that we proudly 
repel all your advances to heal the wounds of Zion, to hold 
the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in 
righteousness of life? Could such a state of things be 
made to appear, hostility would indeed rankle within our 
bosoms and thoroughly vitiate our lives ; hostility, not 
against doctrines erroneous in principle and institutions 
human in their origin ; but hostility, of a character vindic- 
tive and unpardonable, hostility against your persons and 
your reputations, your domestick and your social relations, 
your temporal and your spiritual prosperity. 

Whereas our hearts are open and enlarged towards you, 
with sincerely christian and fraternal affection. Instead of 
hatred, we are glowing with the warmest fervours of love. 
Instead of repulses, desiring you to keep by yourselves or 
to stand by, upon the principle that we are 'holier than you, 
widely do we extend our arms, and gladly do we prepare 
our voices, to receive and welcome you into the ark of 



SERMON I . 



7 



Christ's most holy church. In the same sanctuary, would 
we have you worship God. At the same font, would we 
see you baptized. Side by side, at the same altar, would 
we kneel down together with you, and together feed upon 
the emblematick body and blood of Christ, by faith, with 
thanksgiving. 

And do ye call this hostility ? Is this analogous to the 
fanning of its accursed embers, and a subsequent triumph- 
ing amid the fury of its flames ? I have not so learned 
Christ. From his own inspired apostle, I rather learn that 
acts of brotherly love may harmonize with the loudest re- 
monstrances against indulgence in errour. Of the Gala- 
tians, he demands, " Am I therefore become your enemy 
because I tell you the truth ?" And if the question of Paul 
implies a negative reply, so may we rightly insist, that there 
is no such thing as enmity, in our urging you to abandon 
what the majority of your own incongruous ranks do not 
hesitate to brand as heresy, and a far larger majority of 
the whole christian world have in all ages pronounced to 
be a state of schism. Mark ye then the true philosophy of 
love, and cast not away the substance of this master pas- 
sion of the christian faith, in compliment to the meager 
shadow, which is ever flitting before our eyes, and by the 
moderns miscalled charity, enlightened and refined, com- 
prehensive and abounding. In honest candour, ye may 
find instruction. In glozing words of courtesy, the object 
is to win applause, though it be at the expense of dethroning 
truth, and permitting the sceptre to be wielded by the right 
hand of falsehood. 

For my own part, I do not scruple to affirm, that philan- 
thropy, liberal and enlarged, is the grand, controlling mo- 
tive influencing me to attempt the removing of the veil 
winch obscures your vision, and divides you from the visi- 
ble fold of Christ. Self interest would incline me to cast 
off what you term the prelatick yoke, to trample all its 
ensigns of authority in the dust, and become independent 
as you are, a candidate for popular favour wiierever it 
might be found, and the architect of a church, not the less 
apostolical, for being set in order in the nineteenth century, 
and dignified with some style and title, yet newer than the 
new. I am not so blind as to be unable to perceive, that 
the promptings of mere temporal policy bend altogether in 



8 



SERMON I. 



that direction. But time is not to be put in competition 
with eternity, worldly honours and emoluments are not to 
be coveted, where their possession places in jeopardy the 
hope of wearing an immortal crown. And therefore do I 
abjure the paths of schism ; therefore would I cherish the 
spirit of pure philanthropy in my intercourse with you, in 
my humble efforts to guide you into the right way, where 
is the Lord our God, with the people of his pasture and the 
sheep of his hand. 

Pass some few years, and we shall all lie down in the 
dust together. Even now the most beautiful flowers, we 
possess, may have been cropped so very near the margin 
of the grave, that its dreary void shall be filled by our own 
lifeless clay, long before we have cause or opportunity to 
pluck another. And under these circumstances, shall I 
venture to muster all the fires of a malignant spirit against 
you ? Shall I here dare to vomit forth anathemas upon 
your heads, that I may hereafter be certain to revel in such 
luxury as the bottomless pit affords ? Not so, beloved 
brethren. Too clearly do I comprehend the penalty in- 
volved in these memorable words, " Whosoever hateth 
his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer 
hath eternal life abiding in him." Love is therefore the 
element which I would breathe ; not spurious, canting, or 
hypocritical, but such love, if it could be compassed, as 
Jesus had, when he came to seek and to save that which 
was lost, when he refrained not from offending Jewish pre- 
judices, in his efforts to convert the unconverted and turn 
the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. 

Nor is there any feeling of self complacency to be justly 
charged upon me, as largely inceptive in the composition 
of these discourses. It has been a favourite argument with 
many of your number, that we take too much upon us, in 
denying to your pastors, the ministerial office and the 
power of transmitting it to others. It is alleged to savour 
of excessive pride of heart, to overleap all the boundaries 
of christian humility, to stand out a most prominent speci- 
men of the insatiable eagerness, with which we exalt our- 
selves and abase you ; with which we laud the efficacy at- 
tached to our ordaining hands and despise your no less pure 
and reverend ceremonial. 

But so far as it regards myself and all other presbyters 



SERMON I . 



9 



of the church, never could charges be more severely re- 
torted upon those who make them. Our highest ecclesias- 
tical office is that of the bishop, the apostle of the scrip- 
tures, to whom alone we ascribe the power of ordination. 
Our second is precisely of the same rank which your clergy 
claim to possess, the office of a presbyter or elder. Is 
there then excessive pride of heart, in our presbyters ac- 
knowledging that we have no authority whatever to ordain, 
and at the same time a mark of profound humility, in all 
your professed presbyters, that they boldly challenge this 
authority and freely exercise it, though the consequence be 
their assumption of the official rank of the apostles them- 
selves ? Is it to such casuistry as this, that you subject 
the diviner wisdom of our Saviour Christ, " Whosoever 
shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall hum- 
ble himself shall be exalted ?" No, brethren, I will not 
do you the injustice to believe, that ye will so prostitute 
reason or torture the scriptures, as to persist in such impu- 
tations, after this flagrant exhibition of their unfounded 
character. Humility does not affect the skies. Pride is 
not given to relinquish vested rights and to become prone 
as the dust. If ye will insist, that our seventeen bishops, 
in these United States, arrogate to themselves exclusive 
authority, in conferring holy orders, ye must concede, that 
our six or seven hundred presbyters are yet lowlier in their 
own eyes than your own, are the more apprehensive, lest 
arrogance or the love of pre-eminence should tempt them 
to usurp the seat of ungranted power. We have not been 
brought up at the feet of Diotrephes, and if others, without 
deigning to examine the warrant for their proceedings, are 
sufficiently elated to seize upon the ordaining office, we, 
who have examined and find no such warrant in holy ora- 
cles, are content to bow down rather than lift up our un- 
mitred heads. 

Nor must I forget to advise you, that nothing can be 
more preposterous than the charge in question, when it is 
considered, that we, the presbyters of the church, are called 
upon by your acting presbyters to allow them to possess 
the right to ordain, when we repudiate the authority in our 
own persons. They deny not that our rank is equal to 
theirs. But though we should pronounce utterly null and 
void, an ordination celebrated by a dozen of our own pres- 
1* 



SERMON I. 



byters, though we should, for this act of contumacy, expel 
them from the ministry of the church and refuse to the or- 
dained person all right to officiate in the word and ordinan- 
ces, yet are we freely denounced as bigots, because we 
will not practically stultify our intellects, and with unrival- 
ed absurdity attribute validity to your presbyterian ordina- 
tion alone. 

Monstrous inference indeed ! When, I beg to know, 
will controversialists learn to confine themselves to the ac- 
tual merits of a question in debate ; when will the people 
have the good sense to frown upon all shrewdly devised 
stratagems, and make it the interest of public instructors to 
be honest and not cunning, to address human reason and 
not human passion ? Truth will ultimately leap from the 
dungeon, in which it is sought to incarcerate her, and when 
deception is forced to encounter the sternness of her rebuke, 
a reaction will ensue, and they that are duped will be du- 
ped no more. The great mass of the dissenting clergy 
and laity must be upright in their intentions. Were I to 
think otherwise, there would be little to encourage me in 
making this appeal to their hearts and consciences. Read- 
ers would be few, and converts fewer still. The judgment 
might be convinced, but the will would be stationary as 
the polar star and unyielding as the grave. If my own 
good or bad opinion must be inferred, let it be logically 
drawn from the fact, that I would not waste a thought up- 
on beings mindless as the brute or obdurate as the marble 
statue. It is enough that I write, or if more be demand- 
ed, that I write with the full persuasion that success at- 
tends me, that numbers on numbers, who may condescend 
to give these pages a perusal, will prove themselves to be 
influenced by no such prepossessions as these ; " Well 
spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fa- 
thers, saying, go unto this people and say, Hearing ye 
shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see 
and not perceive ; for the heart of this people is waxed 
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes 
have they closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and 
hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and 
should be converted, and I should heal them." 

But after all, I shall be told, that the very discussion of 
the subject proposed is unprofitable and vain ; that it leads- 



SERMON I . 



11 



to no valuable results, rouses sectarian feeling, and imbit- 
ters the minds of those, whose sole vocation it should be 
to provoke unto love and good works. And to the sound- 
ness of this position I would not hesitate to assent, were it 
a mere logomachy or war of words, in which our spiritual 
energies were to be embarked. Then indeed investigation 
should be shunned and not courted; weapons should be 
buried in the scabbard and not drawn out, at the risk of 
being crossed in some furious gladiatorial combat. But 
no mistake could be more egregious ; nor could those shafts 
of ridicule, so often aimed at our imaginary predilection 
for trifles, be more idly hurled. Church government itself 
is not a trifle ; what power pertains to the ecclesiastical 
office, and how that power is to be exerted, its checks and 
balances, its uses and abuses. This is frequently con- 
founded with the true point at issue ; and learnedly and 
perseveringly are we informed, that no regular plan of 
church government is laid down in the scriptures ; that 
free scope is given to its variable exercise, dependant upon 
time, place, and circumstance, and regulated only by gen- 
eral principles appearing here and there in the volume of 
the new testament, and requiring nothing more than the 
employment of a sound discretion, with appliances modi- 
fied by the spirit of brotherly-kindness. 

Be this however as it may, it is nothing to the purpose. 
We have no litigated question of this nature upon our 
hands. It is not about church government that we differ^ 
in the sense of ascertaining what rules are given to the 
ministers of Jesus, pertaining to the discipline of their 
respective flocks. It is one thing to determine what the 
constitution of the United States and Great Britain are ; 
and another, whether Andrew Jackson and William the 
fourth rightfully fill the presidency and the throne ; whether 
others have or have not as valid a title to occupy these 
stations, with the high trust of causing the constitution and 
the laws to reign paramount, in their respective countries. 
And so in our case, it is not the whole moral of church 
government, winch we call upon you to investigate ; it is 
about that part of it, which creates certain officers to 
carry out all its provisions into operation ; who have that 
power confided to them ; who, in a word, we are bound 
to regard as the ministers of Christ. You contend for the 



12 



SERMON I. 



single office of a presbyter or elder; we, for the three offices, 
of apostle or bishop, of presbyter or elder, and of deacon. 

And do ye call this a matter of no moment ? Why then 
did your spiritual ancestors in England abandon the epis- 
copacy of their own native land, and introduce the presby- 
terianism of Geneva ? Why, for a matter of no moment, 
did they separate from the great mass of the reformers, 
and miserably rend and lacerate the mystical body of 
Christ, which is the church ? Your objection, it appears to 
me, proves more than you could wish. It places your 
ancestors in the wrong ; and that wrong, it cannot be 
right in their progeny of a few generations to persist in 
maintaining. 

But pardon me, if I tell you, that it is not long, since ye 
have been disposed to belittle the constitution of the chris- 
tian priesthood. The old fashioned presbyterians were of 
a far different spirit, and could reason in this now exploded 
manner ; " It has hitherto been commonly agreed upon by 
christians, that Jesus Christ hath in necessity, in equity, in 
fact, an external, visible kingdom of grace in this world ; 
that this kingdom hath an external form, distinguishing both 
it and the subjects thereof from the condition of civil or 
natural society, and that this form is one, in opposition to 
nothing and every thing." " Though his visible kingdom is 
to continue but for a set time, yet during that time, there 
can be nothing more indispensable than the affairs of 
church government. Let men revile these externals never 
so much, they are of no small account with Zion's king. 
The doctrine and maintenance of church government is 
of as essential necessity to the Mediator's glory in the 
church, as the doctrine of grace is unto the salvation of 
men." " The running unsent into the Lord's vineyard is 
not only destitute of a blessing, but attended with a curse, 
a spiritual curse, blasting and deluding souls, and that as 
to their eternal interests. This manner of ministration 
strikes at the root of a true church state, of the kingdom 
of grace and the salvation of souls. Are they then safe, 
are they guiltless, who contribute unto the support of such 
guilty and fatal ministrations ?" " The government estab- 
lished by Christ in his house is the best, yea the only fence 
against the diverse and strange doctrines, that may happen 
to be advanced and propagated to the prejudice of the truth 



SERMON I. 



IS 



as it is in Jesus, and therefore the strongest batteries of hell 
have always been planted against the walls and bulwarks 
of Zion ; because if a breach is once made on these, errour, 
delusion, and all manner of abomination has easy access 
unto the city of God." 

And what language, brethren, can be stronger than this ? 
Do we here find the modern invention of the invisible 
kingdom, or is it the visible kingdom, whose form is one, 
in opposition to nothing and every thing ? Is it with ridi- 
cule and disdain, that the externals of the church, and the 
running unsent or illegally commissioned are brought into 
view, or are they adverted to, as subjects of the highest 
importance ? Are the strongest batteries of hell said to 
be levelled directly at the doctrines of grace, or do they 
not reach those doctrines through breaches made in the 
walls and bulwarks of Zion, at which the grand enemy 
is represented to enter, with something worse than Pan- 
dora's box in his train ? Reply is needless, ye can read 
for yourselves. The testimony of Gib and Fisher is at 
diametrical variance with the latitudinarianism, so con- 
genial to the spirit of the existing age. At whose shrine 
then would you have us worship ? Shall we follow them 
or shall we yield to your riper judgment ? Is it better to be 
one, or every thing and nothing ? 

If ye are not prepared to give an immediate answer, I 
will furnish you with some extracts from " the declaration 
of the true presbyterians, within the kingdom of Scotland, 
concerning Mr. George Whitfield and the work at C am- 
bus] ang." " He is a member of the prelatick church of 
England, whose hierarchical form of church government, 
by archbishops, bishops, &c., is directly antichristian and 
expressly contrary to the written word, which condemns 
all manner of superiority among ministers of the gospel, 
and properly belongeth to that form of church government, 
whereof the son of perdition, who ascended out of the 
bottomless pit, is head." " He hath taken upon him to 
preach the gospel and to administer the seals of the cove- 
nant of grace, without having any divine right or lawful 
calling thereunto, he never being tried, approved, and 
ordained to the work of the ministry, by a lawful pres- 
bytery of presbyterian ministers, who alone have the 
divine right to try, approve, and ordain men to the work 



14 



SERMON I. 



of the ministry." " Neither was he ever lawfully called 
by any congregation of christian people, who had or have 
power to call ministers in a lawful and regular way : And 
therefore he hath no right at all, that is either lawful or 
sufficient to impower him to preach the gospel or dispense 
gospel ordinances ; nor can he so much as pretend to any 
right this way, but only that which he, after his popish 
way of speaking, calls ordination to holy orders by one of 
the bishops of England, which is no valid ordination 
at all." 

No more then, brethren, are we to be taunted with an 
exclusive zeal for the external features of Zion. It is not 
an author or two, but the assembled multitude of true pres- 
byterians, who speak thus dictatorially, as some of you 
will now say, of the divine right of the ministry; who 
were thus lofty in their pretensions, and who could so 
cruelly anathematize the episcopal church, and one of the 
most gifted of her missionaries. In another place, they 
affirm of him, that he was " a scandalous idolator, being a 
member of the idolatrous church of England, who sym- 
bolizeth with the idolatrous church of Rome in many of 
her idolatries." But all this reviling was outlived by Whit- 
field, nor need I say that the church has outlived it. The 
authors are dead and forgotten, when the name of the 
pious and eloquent Whitfield will be pronounced with en- 
thusiasm to remotest time. Their church has dwindled 
into the skeleton of what it was, when that of England, so 
foully aspersed, commends itself more and more to the af- 
fectionate remembrance of all christian people. 

I introduce not these quotations, for the purpose of heap- 
ing odium on the anti-episcopal cause. Too much of harsh 
invective may doubtless be gathered from the writings of 
friends as well as foes. I rather introduce them, that ye 
may perceive in what strong terms it was once deemed 
advisable to assert the peculiar sanctity of the sacerdotal 
office, with its conservative power ; and that ye may ask 
yourselves, why it is that modern presbyterians of the dif- 
ferent sects should have undergone so total a revolution 
in sentiment, that an immense majority of their number 
think no more and care no more, about the validity of cler- 
ical ordination, than they do, about finding the magnetick 
pole or resolving the quadrature of the circle. 



SERMON I. 



15 



In the ensuing discourse, after some additional testimo- 
nies have been adduced, it will be my object to explain 
this spiritual paradox. In the meantime, you must permit 
me to insist, that your displeasure be not excited by the 
plainness and freedom, with which truth will be broached 
and errour assailed. I cannot wrap up my sentences in 
such an ambiguous shape as to please all men, and I would 
not if I could. " If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, 
who shall prepare himself to the battle V On directness 
of speech and sincerity of purpose, I will therefore rely as 
the means best adapted to secure the tribute of your appro- 
bation. And God, of his infinite mercy, grant, that all 
things, presented by me in the spirit of love and good will, 
may be productive of our mutual edification and the build- 
ing up of the Redeemer's kingdom : To whom be glory 
in the church, through all ages. Amen. 



SERMON II. 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

FOR ZIOn's SAKE WILL I NOT HOLD MY PEACE, AND FOR 

Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETH. 

In proceeding to expose the weakness of the now fa- 
vourite pretext, that the veiy discussion of the subject 
under consideration is unprofitable and vain ; that it leads 
to no valuable results, rouses sectarian feeling, and imbit- 
ters the minds of those, whose sole vocation it should be 
to provoke unto love and good works, I am prepared to 
show, that the long accredited standards of presbyterian- 
ism were constructed in perfect coincidence with the 
solemn declaration of Calvin, its original founder. " Neither 
the light nor heat of the sun, nor meat and drink are 
so necessary to sustain this present life, as the office of 
the apostles and pastors is necessary to preserve the 
church." 

Concerning the doctrine of ordination, the Westminster 
assembly of divines are thus plain and explicit ; " No man 
ought to take upon him the office of a minister of the woid 
without a lawful calling." " Every minister of the word 
is to be ordained by imposition of hands, and prayer, with 
fasting, by those preaching presbyters to whom it doth 
belong." Concerning the power of ordination, they insist ; 
" Ordination is the act of a presbytery." " The preaching 
presbyters orderly associated, either in cities or neighbour- 
ing villages, are those to whom the imposition of hands 
doth appertain, for those congregations within their bounds 
respectively." Concerning the necessity of this ordination 
to ensure a valid ministry, in their confession of faith, it is 



SERMON II. 



maintained ; " There be only two sacraments ordained by 
Christ our Lord in .the gospel, that is to say, baptism and 
the supper of the Lord ; neither of which may be dis- 
pensed by any but by a minister of the word, lawfully 
ordained." And all these declarations were approved and 
adopted by the general assembly of the kirk of Scotland. 
The same remark applies to the associate reformed church 
in North-America. By them, it is also asserted, that 
" presbyterial church government" " is the true and only 
form of government, which the Lord Jesus Christ hath 
prescribed in his word." Nor does the presbyterian 
church in the United States hesitate to assure us ; " It is 
absolutely necessary, that the government of the church 
be exercised under some certain and definite form." In 
relation to a candidate for the ministry, its language would 
better become our episcopal ordinal, and is thus curiously 
expressed ; " The presiding bishop shall, by prayer, and 
with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery, accord- 
ing to the apostolick example, solemnly ordain him to the 
holy office of the gospel ministry." Even the congrega- 
tional ministers of New-England, in one of their assem- 
blies, at Cambridge, arrived at such conclusions as these ; 
" The power of government belongs only to the elders of 
the church." " Were the government of the church as 
much in the brethren as in the elders, then the whole body 
were all eye, which it is not." " Most unexceptionable is 
the imposition of hands by a presbytery ; but more excep- 
tionable by a fraternity. The word of God mentions the 
former expressly, but not the latter in the new testament. 
They were such hands as Titus's, that were to ordain 
elders. What need of that, if the hands of common believ- 
ers were sufficient ? They were such hands as Timothy's, 
that were to make over church betrustments unto faithful 
men able to teach others." " We find no commission or 
permission from our Lord Jesus Christ for any to be 
administrators of baptism, except those whose work it is, 
by his commission, to preach the gospel. And none have 
a commission to make the preaching of the gospel their 
work, but such as are, with the call of the faithful there- 
unto, set apart for that work." " Baptism is a seal of the 
covenant ; for any but an officer to apply the seal, in the 
2 



18 



SERMON II. 



name of the great king of heaven, is a presumptuous arro- 
gance." 

If such then be the declarations of the most approved 
standards of the non-episcopal churches, the question of a 
valid ministry is not so unprofitable and vain, as some 
persons would fain persuade us. A justice of the peace 
must be legally appointed and commissioned before he can 
issue his warrant. And if these authorities are to be cred- 
ited, the ministers of Jesus are not incumbents of an office, 
comparatively mean and contemptible. The people have 
some substantial reason to inquire, whether or not they 
derive their commission from some rightful authority; 
whether their clerical acts are in the line of legitimacy or 
in that of usurpation. 

Listen, brethren, to the admission of one of your most 
distinguished divines, the venerable president Dwight; 
" Whatever church officers the scriptures have established, 
as standing officers, are appointed by God himself. The 
church, therefore is bound to receive them, as having been 
thus appointed, and to take effectual care, that they always 
exist. This will not be denied by any man, who admits 
the divine revelation of the scriptures." Nor is the ne- 
cessity of legal ordination often expressed, in more deci- 
sive terms than those employed by doctor McLeod of the 
associate reformed church ; <k A person, who is not ordained 
to office by a presbytery, has no right to be received as a 
minister of Christ. His administration of ordinances is 
invalid. No divine blessing is promised upon his labours. 
It is rebellion against the head of the church to support 
him in his pretensions. Christ has excluded him in his 
providence from admission through the ordinary door, 
and if he has no evidence of miraculous power to testify 
his extraordinary mission, he is an impostor." According 
to him, ' It is improper to countenance the usurpations of 
prelacy, or the irregularities of independency. But since 
the bishop, who claims exclusively the right of ordination, 
does in fact, relinquish it, by associating other ministers 
with him in the imposition of hands ; and seeing inde- 
pendents also relinquish their claim of right of ordaininsr, 
each congregation its own pastor, by giving up the work 
into the hands of those who are ordained, the ordinances 
administered in the episcopal and independent churches 



SERMON II. 



19 



are held valid. The ministry is essentially presbyterian ; 
and upon this principle there is no necessity for reordain- 
ing or rebaptizing any, who have had these ordinances 
in the communion of the independent or episcopal church- 
es." 

But professor Miller of Princeton is the more persever- 
ing champion of dissent. And what are the statements 
proceeding from his prolifick pen ? Consult his letters on 
the christian ministry, and it is written ; " If all the inter- 
ests of the church are precious in the view of every 
enlightened christian, it is evident, that the mode of its 
organization cannot be a trivial concern." " Christians, in 
all ages, are bound to make the apostolick order of the 
church, with respect to the ministry, as well as other 
points, the model, as far as possible, of all their ecclesias- 
tical arrangements." " If, as we have proved in the fore- 
going letters, the right of ordination, according to scripture 
and primitive usage, belongs to presbyters, it is evident, 
that the succession through them is as valid as any other ; 
or rather, to speak more properly, it is only so far as any 
succession flows through the line of presbyters, that it is 
either regular or valid. It is the laying on of the hands of 
the presbytery, that constitutes a scriptural ordination; 
and it is because episcopal bishops are presbyters, and as- 
sisted in all ordinations by other presbyters, that we con- 
sider their ordaining acts, on the principles of scripture and 
primitive usage, valid." Consult his more recent essay on 
" the office of the ruling elder," and his opinion is by no means 
changed, a regular ministry is still urged with renewed zeal ; 
" The idea, that, with such directions as the new testament 
contains on this subject, men should be left at liberty to take 
these offices upon themselves, by their own act and at their 
own pleasure, is full of absurdity, and if realized would 
undoubtedly lead to endless disorder and mischief." " All 
regular and lawful introduction to office must be through 
the medium of human ordainers, acting in the name of 
Christ and governing themselves by his declared will." 
After quoting the passage from Paul ; " The things that 
thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same 
commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach 
others also ;" his comment is, " Here we are plainly taught 
that men are not to seize upon the sacred office them- 



20 



SER M ON II. 



selves. It is to be committed to them, and that not by 
every one, but by those only who have regularly received 
it themselves." 

And now, brethren, permit me to tell you, that episcopa- 
lians, in those labours of love wherewith they would en- 
force the necessity of a divinely established ministry, on 
the various presbyterian sectaries, adopt no principles more 
exclusive than these. On the very same grounds, it is, that 
we maintain the validity of episcopal ordinations alone, 
with the absolute invalidity of all those designedly celebra- 
ted in opposition to episcopal pre-eminence. We object 
indeed to the abusive epithets bestowed upon us by the 
Scotch presbyterians. We smile at the verbal attempt to 
identify the true church with the papal hierarchy. We 
deny all those assertions, maintaining the scriptural charac- 
ter of presbyterian ordinations. But the abstract reason- 
ing, proving the necessity of a regularly organized church, 
the necessity of a lawfully ordained ministry, the necessity 
of these things, both for the valid administration of the 
word and sacraments, and the prevention of innumerable 
heresies and schisms, in all this, we most cordially concur 
in opinion with the sound doctrine, pervading these copious 
extracts from presbyterian councils and presbyterian di- 
vines. Our bigotry, if bigotry it be, is your bigotry, is 
virtually sustained by whatever of human wisdom, ye have 
been accustomed to regard as venerable and authentick, 
from the commencement of your spiritual d) 7 nasty to near- 
ly this very day. 

What means then the new flood of light, which has 
dawned upon so many eyes, dispersing all the mists, so 
long collected by your best and your wisest, and inconti- 
nently thrown around the bulwarks of Zion? Is the 
world taking such rapid strides to arrive at the summit of 
christian perfection, as to negative the value of safeguards, 
once deemed indispensable to the prosperity and glory of 
the Redeemer's kingdom ? Have any of you by some 
severer trains of reasoning, some closer analysis of the 
sacred volume, than the most vaunted of your leaders, 
with Calvin at their head, could succeed in putting in mo- 
tion, have any of you, by these means, stripped the priest- 
hood of its apostolick dignity, and proved all ecclesiastical 
claims to hold office, in virtue of divine right, to be no 



SERMON II. 



21 



better than the mummery of fools or the theology of 
knaves ? I have seen no such general efforts to reach the 
elevated ground in question ; I have not been favoured 
with any such exhibitions of mental strength : Nor have 
you. Holiness is in no greater request now than in the 
former time. Your intellectual giants have not dwindled, 
through the contrast with modern acumen, into intellectual 
pygmies. 

What means then, I repeat, the new flood of light, which 
has dawned upon so many eyes 1 I will tell you, brethren. 
It has been discovered, that the presbyterian doctrine, like 
the bursting of ordnance, has scattered ruin in the trench- 
es, while the walls of the fortress, against which they were 
aimed, have remained unscathed. The premises were 
good, were scriptural. With them, we have no disposition 
to quarrel. But alas ! It has been almost universally ad- 
mitted, that the conclusions, when logically drawn, would 
convert the presbyterian church into a desert, and fill our 
episcopal vineyard with an immense accession of labour- 
ers. For the ordination by presbyters alone, there is not 
a particle of evidence in the word of God. They were 
such hands as those of the twelve apostles, of Paul and 
Barnabas, of Timothy and Titus, to which was committed 
the laying on of hands, in giving holy orders. And it is 
to the proof of this, largely and thoroughly adduced ; to 
the proof of bishops being the sole successors in office of 
the holy apostles, derived from the bible, and the primitive 
fathers ; it is to these proofs, with the additional circum- 
stance that great numbers, of the different sectarian can- 
didates for the ministry and even ordained ministers them- 
selves, have upon conviction, renounced the schismatick 
cause and united themselves to our communion, that new 
rays of light have visited the tottering edifice of dissent, 
and that a new system of opticks has been taught, in its 
once exclusive school of the prophets. 

Scarcely can it be said, that professor Miller stands 
alone in his glory. Even with him, prelatick usurpations 
are softened down into virtual presbyterianism, and inde- 
pendent irregularities are permitted to take the same direc- 
tion, embracing, of course, the entire circle of congrega- 
tional, baptist, universalist, and unitarian ministrations. 
But for the vastly larger proportion, the once loud and 



22 



SERMON II. 



dictatorial voice of their ancestors is hushed into breath- 
ings, wonderfully faint, if not inaudible. The great clamour 
is, that episcopalians should be daring enough to retain the 
ground, trom which their once zealous adversaries have 
been driven in the utmost confusion. If we could join in 
unsaying what they have unsaid, and, by some ex post 
facto law, agree to legalize, what we cannot but consider 
their mal-administrations, we are almost tempted to believe 
that the millennium itself would ensue. 

Yes, brethren, such is the attitude which high presbyte- 
rianism now assumes. It may be cherished by some few, 
in that branch of your church,- which is technically called 
presbyterian ; but in the estimation of the residue, it has 
fallen from its high estate, and become so low, that hardly 
one of your number, can make up his mind to do it rever- 
ence. To episcopalians has been transferred the glory of 
contending earnestly for the integrity of the ministiy of 
reconciliation, as established in the written word. The 
modern presbyterian, forgetful of the derivation of this 
title, or else unconscious that it is strictly applicable to the 
constitution of the ministry alone, and to no one of the 
many litigated points of doctrine, the modern presbyterian, 
both orthodox and heterodox, for the most part, ridicules 
the idea of a divinely established priesthood, unchangeable 
in its character, and classes the uninterrupted succession, in 
the same rank with the incidents of the fabulous age. It 
may be thought to be the most judicious mode of stemming 
the current, now setting strongly in favour of episcopacy. 
It may be considered as furnishing positive proof of not 
being behind the age, in the onward march of liberality. 
I am not in the secret of those, whose word is law. I 
only judge of the cause from the effect. I only know, that 
undeserved odium is constantly cast upon us, for espousing 
principles, to which former presbyterians were wedded 
with a ligature, indissoluble as that which constitutes the 
marriage tie. 

For a long time, it has been given out, that a materia! 
distinction exists among the episcopal clergy ; the distinc- 
tion between high churchmen and low. The high are said 
to impeach the validity of presbyterian ordination, the low 
to recognise it. But permit me to assure you, that your 
information is derived from any thing but an authentiek. 



SERMON II. 



23 



source. In our use of these terms, a use becoming more 
and more obsolescent, the application of the former denotes - 
such as are very tenacious about mere ecclesiastical regu- 
lations ; while the latter indicates the reverse. The high 
churchman seldom or never omits reading every part of 
the publick prayers. He is zealous for the wearing of the 
sacred vestments. He makes it a point to be very strict 
in the construction of some of the rubricks. Not that 
salvation lies in observances like these. That idea were 
too absurd. He only desires to exhibit, in what he suppo- 
ses a more prominent light, his veneration for the long 
continued usages and enactments of the church. Others 
consider themselves to be justified, in exercising more of 
personal discretion than their brethren employ ; and have 
been regarded as low churchmen, because they are less 
scrupulous and exact, in the particulars to which reference 
has been made. And out of these little mole-hills has 
grown the huge mountain, which has been idly imagined 
to constitute a radical distinction, between those who are 
warmly and conscientiously attached to the same com- 
munion. In your sense of the terms, high and low, I 
question very much, if there be a single clergyman of 
elevated standing among us, who would not heartily re- 
spond to the former designation. 

At all events, the church itself must be pronounced high. 
Whatever meaning may be ascribed to her words, though 
they be very plain and direct ; " No man shall be account- 
ed or taken to be a lawful bishop, priest, or deacon in this 
church, or suffered to execute any of the said functions, ex- 
cept he be called, tried, examined, and admitted thereunto, 
according to the form hereafter following, or hath had 
espiscopal consecration or ordination;" whatever mean- 
ing may be ascribed to her words, yet do actions speak 
louder than words, and judging her by this rule, even in 
your own apprehension of the title, she is eminently, she is 
superlatively high. So far is she from putting her impri- 
matur upon presbyterian ordination, that were the most dis- 
tinguished of your divines to declare themselves converts 
to the episcopal faith, it would necessarily involve the re- 
nunciation of their former sacerdotal rank ; and before they 
could be received into the ministry, they must be ordained 
by the imposition of the hands of a bishop.. Such cases are 



24 



SERMON II. 



continually occurring, and no exception prevails in favour 
of the more aged or renowned ; no bishop will be so low 
as to admit them to minister in our communion, without 
full compliance with this universally required preliminary. 
And if all this does not clearly develop the actual judg- 
ment of the church, and the high ground she occupies, then 
is it utterly impossible for actions to be so unequivocal, 
that he who runs may read. Ye may write falsehood in 
the room of philanthropy, upon the walls of every prison, 
visited by the martyr Howard. Ye need not shun the 
dagger of the assassin when it gleams, nor turn aside your 
head when the bandit levels his carbine. 

But on this subject there is another and a more mischiev- 
ous distinction than that already exposed. Having settled 
upon the postulate, that there are churchmen, both high 
and low, in the refuted sense, it imputes to the former, as 
the necessary consequence of their principles, a non-evan- 
gelical spirit ; to the latter only will its contrivers conde- 
scend to apply the epithet, evangelical. Marvellous dis- 
covery indeed ! Wonderful precision in the collocation of 
titles ! As if the isolated question, Who are the ministers of 
Christ ? whether decided exclusively on the episcopal side 
or not, had any positive bearing upon the determination of 
such doctrines as those of the trinity, the incarnation, and 
the atonement ; of natural depravity, repentance and faith ; 
of obedience, sanctification, and the forgiveness of sins ; of 
the resurrection of the dead, a final judgment, and an eter- 
nity of weal or wo, whether they be true or false. Sure- 
ly the poverty of that man's understanding must be great, 
who can, upon serious reflection, give credit to such fable 
as this. All that I have to allege, in opposition to such 
crude speculations, is a loud call for proof instead of asser- 
tion. There are not two clerical parties in the protestant 
episcopal church, in relation to the doctrines above enu- 
merated, They are affirmed by all ; preached by all ; in 
this light, all are evangelical. 

And to show you, that this evangelism may very well 
consist with high churchmanship, I present you with an 
extract from the letters from Europe, of one of your own 
living ministers, doctor Sprague of Albany. Speaking of 
England, he says, " You are aware that the episcopal 
church in this country, as in our own, is divided into two 



SERMON II. 



25 



parties ; but possibly you may not be aware of the precise 
ground which they respectively occupy. There is here as 
with us the distinction of high church and low church ; of 
evangelical and anti-evangelical. But it happens rather 
singularly, that the evangelical party is the high church 
party ; that is, they are more rigid in their peculiar notions 
of church government, and more disposed to talk of epis- 
copalians as the church, than are those, who are more lax 
in their views of gospel truth. The solution, which I have 
heard of it, is, that the evangelical party are apprehensive, 
that they shall be suspected, on account of their rigid ad- 
herence to the doctrines of the gospel, of verging towards 
puritanism. And in order to keep down such a suspicion, 
they manifest their attachment to the church, by an increas- 
ed degree of zeal for her particular forms of government. 
I do not say that this is the correct account of it ; but that 
there is actually the union, of which I have spoken, between 
high church principles and evangelical religion, admits of 
no question. I doubt not, that it would surprise many of 
our countrymen, who have been accustomed with myself 
to be edihed and delighted by the writings in the christian 
observer, to know, that most of those, by whom this excel- 
lent publication is supported, while they are men of distin- 
guished worth, and of truly evangelical views, have but little 
religious sympathy with any, who do not happen to be 
within the pale of the establishment." 

Nothing, brethren, could be more to the purpose. Here 
is a writer evidenly filled with the prejudices, still retained by 
many of your number, making the same mistake about high 
church and low in his own country, and supposing the for- 
mer to be of necessity anti-evangelical ; here is this writer 
exhibiting the high church party of England as truly evan- 
gelical, while the low are represented as the reverse, are 
actually stigmatized in the very next paragraph, as " sub- 
stituting mere moral essays for evangelical discourses." 
The last charge is precisely the same with that so frequent- 
ly fulminated against the imaginary American high church, 
and doubtless in a style of caricature, equally coarse and 
invidious. But were it true that low church and anti-evan- 
gelical could be rightly applied as convertible terms, in the 
way this writer applies them, it would be doing no vio- 
lence to any sound principle to concede, that the low and 



26 



SERMON II. 



lax in doctrine would more naturally and harmoniously 
rank, with the low and lax in their estimate of the priest- 
hood. Whereas they who think highly of the church, to 
be consistent, should think highly of the Saviour of the 
church. If they exalt the bride, much more should they 
exalt the bridegroom. And before I have done with these 
discourses, I hope to present an argument, whose tenden- 
cy it will be to bring vast multitudes to the like conclu- 
sion. 

For the present, it is enough, that I have succeeded in 
exposing the utter groundlessness of the distinctions, so of- 
ten made to operate against the peace and the righteousness 
of Zion, against her claims to universal sympathy, and her 
right to the universal possession of a good land and large. 
A better state of things, in the spiritual vineyard, mast 
eventually exist. And this state, may Almighty God, in his 
own good time, graciously bring to pass. The greater 
cause shall we have for gratitude, the greater for admira- 
tion. And to Him, the Father, to the Son and Holy Ghost, 
three persons and one God, shall.be ascribed all the glory, 
and honour, and dominion, and praise, world without end. 
Amen. 



SERMON III. 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

FOR ZIOn's SAKE WILL I NOT HOLD MY PEACE, AND FOR 

Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETH. 

In prosecuting the design of these discourses, 1 have 
now arrived at that point, when it will be proper to speak 
more particularly of their supplementary character. They 
will be strictly of this description. No arguments, of the 
sermons which have preceded them, will be repeated. 
Few only will be enlarged upon, and this for the sole pur- 
pose of introducing a more detailed mass of testimony, 
principally taken from presbyterian authorities. The con- 
sequence is, that I have to solicit a perusal of both, prepar- 
atory to the forming of a definitive opinion on so important 
a subject. 

To prevail with you, brethren, to accede to this propo- 
sal, I shall now present you, with as brief a syllabus as 
possible, of what is contained in the discourses already 
published. They are twenty in number, and are entitled ; 
sermons upon the ministry, worship, and doctrines of the 
protestant episcopal church. The first seven contain the 
direct argument, proving the apostolick origin of episcopa- 
cy, or the threefold constitution and division of the minis- 
try, into the orders of apostle, now called bishop ; of pres- 
byter, originally called bishop or presbyter, indiscriminate- 
ly ; and of deacon. It is founded upon the testimony of 
the scriptures ; the history of the primitive church ; the 
writings of the early fathers ; the admission of Calvin and 
others, who were the founders of the presbyterian sect ; 
and the memorable discovery in Asia of the Syrian church, 



SERMON III. 



existing in the episcopal and not the presbyterian form, 
though in fifteen hundred and three, its clergy were entire- 
ly ignorant of papal Rome, and indeed of the whole Eu- 
ropean church. The two next treat of the mode and the 
subjects of baptism, and the rite of confirmation, as furnish- 
ing pretexts for abandoning our communion. The four 
following are devoted to a scriptural vindication of our 
corporeal and spiritual worship, involving the question be- 
tween written and extemporary forms of prayer. The 
two, which succeed, prove the soundness of our views 
upon the leading doctrines of the gospel. The next is 
upon the intermediate state. The three last present the 
indirect argument in favour of episcopacy, growing out of 
the melancholy heresies, so well known to pervade the 
sectarian ministry, while that of the episcopal church, 
wherever established, retains, in their utmost purity, the 
great doctrines of the reformation. 

In a few lines, 1 have therefore compressed the heads of 
those subjects, whose actual discussion is extended over 
more than three hundred pages. I have done this, breth- 
ren, that I may not, through misapprehension on your 
part, be subjected to the charge of asserting your obliga- 
tion to renounce the way of schism and unite yourselves 
to the apostolick church, without having first attempted to 
substantiate a real schism on the one hand, with a true 
apostolicity on the other. And I have done it, from the 
conviction, that such will be the tenour, such the force of 
this new series of sound speech which cannot be justly 
condemned, that every candid and conscientious reader 
will be unable to acquit himself of blameworthiness, should 
he wholly refuse to make himself acquainted with some 
work or other, whose avowed object it is to maintain the 
episcopal side, in the still rarely understood controversy, 
subsisting between us and the dissenting denominations. 

When the work in question proceeded from the press, I 
was simple enough to believe, that every ingenuous and 
fair minded man, who could be persuaded, by its perusal, 
of the apostolick institution of episcopacy and of episcopacy 
alone, would feel it to be an imperative duty to separate 
from the human invention, and conform to the divinely 
constructed ark. But no such thing ! Simplicity could not 
have been more crude ; an insight into the special pleading 



SERMON III. 



29 



and dialecticks of professing christians more clouded and 
obscure. True it is, that large numbers, of both clergy 
and laity, have acted, as I had supposed every honest man 
would act. They have come out promptly and fearlessly 
from the arms of friends and relatives, and openly sided 
with Zion and her most sacred cause. They have not 
been moved by tears and entreaties, nor cajoled by sophis- 
try, nor intimidated by threats. All these have been freely 
employed, and all these have been nobly resisted. Such 
christians I honour. They are worthy of all eulogium. 
It was enough for them to hear the voice of their leader 
Christ, speaking by the lips of his inspired apostles, and 
they hastened to obey, they followed him as implicitly as 
ever sheep followed the wary shepherd, whose eagle eye 
had marked, and whose well known signal had revealed, 
the presence of an insidious foe. When their judgment 
was convinced, they triumphed over every obstacle, and 
no more counted the cost of obedience than did those he- 
roick confessors, who, in the first centuries and in the reign 
of the sanguinary Mary, could only retain a good con- 
science, at the expense of bravely encountering the ferocity 
of savage beasts and more savage men, of being strangled 
with molten lead, or of snatching a martyr's crown, from 
amid the fagot and the flame. 

Such christians 1 honour. Would to God, that all were 
of the same complexion Infidels would no longer jeer, 
nor demons smile. A spirit would spring up throughout 
the vast domain of Christendom, at whose bidding, dissen- 
sion and strife would flee away ; union, peace, and harmo- 
ny attract all eyes and renovate all hearts. But alas ! 
there are many well intentioned believers in Christ, tho- 
roughly satisfied of the truth of what we urge, in behalf 
of the apostolick origin of episcopacy and the human crea- 
tion of all other churches, who are yet content to remain 
within their pale, and sacrifice at their strange altars. 
Their motives I shall not impeach. In other words, I 
have not the most distant conception, that their conduct is 
the result of a resolute determination to sin, with a high 
hand, against the divine will, or to defy, with a supercili- 
ous scorn, the divine authority. 

No, no, brethren, it is not my design to ruffle the temper 
or to injure a good cause, by indulging in such assertions* 
3 



30 



§ERMON III. 



But, by some intangible process of reasoning, or the gra- 
tuitous assumption of some untenable premises, they come 
to a point, from which they literally jump to the conclu- 
sion, that the constitution of the christian ministry and the 
christian church does not involve one of the essentials of 
the gospel of Christ, is a subject better adapted to ingenious 
speculation than long and anxious trains of serious medita- 
tion. They first cut the gordian knot of the controversy, 
and then argue precisely as if they had untied it. They 
would be startled at the idea of rebelling against the com- 
mand of the Lord God ; but having persuaded themselves, 
that in this case there is no command, and consequently no 
place for rebellion, they congratulate themselves upon the 
supposed privilege, they enjoy, of making that a question of 
expediency, which would be exceedingly annoying, were 
it to be resolved into one of absolute right or wrong. 

As a mere question of expediency, persons, already act- 
ing in the capacity of ministers, can retain their parochial 
charge and its emoluments. There will be no violent 
disruption of long cherished ties and familiar associations. 
There will be no necessity of admitting that their clerical 
vocation is unauthorized, and that a legal ordination must 
be solemnized, before they can venture to resume the pas- 
toral character. But the moment they leap the barriers of 
expediency, that very moment, if it be an object to pre- 
serve a quiet conscience, all these evils must ensue. They 
are not so revolting to flesh and blood, so repugnant to 
the tenderest susceptibilities of our nature, but they must 
be sternly faced and patiently endured. 

Nor am I such a novice in the working of the human 
heart, as lightly to estimate the effect of such considera- 
tions as these. He must be more than man, who can, at 
the first glance, regard them with perfect indifference. 
They are evils. Sorely do they wound the spirit, and 
sadly, it is to be feared, do they pervert the judgment. 
My meaning, brethren, will be perfectly understood, when 
I tell you, that it is much easier, for a candidate for the 
ministry, to follow up his convictions of the truth of epis- 
copacy, by coming at once into the bosom of the church, 
than it is for one, who has for years stood in the relation 
of a shepherd to the sheep; who is surrounded by an 
affectionate flock, and who grieves at the most distant 



SERMON III. 



31 



prospect of terminating his residence among them. With- 
out impugning his motives, I must therefore be permitted 
to suspect the impartiality of that decision, which takes 
refuge in expediency, when both interest and affection 
plead strongly in its behalf. 

Some there may be, who ask for no such conciliatory 
statement as this ; with whom the esprit du corps is a 
sufficient warrant for the legitimacy of the office they 
hold ; upon whom arguments would be wasted, and char- 
ity expended, in vain. But these I apprehend must be few 
in number, and do by no means deter me, from endeav- 
ouring to convince all the candid, who believe in the 
episcopal, as the first and only, church, originally instituted, 
that they have no right to set it aside, on a plea so per- 
fectly lame and unscriptural, as that to which I have 
adverted. 

Monstrous indeed, brethren, is the progeny, to which 
the fashionable theory of expediency gives birth. If this 
be true, talk to me no more of the divine wisdom, as far 
transcending the wisdom of man. His foolishness, ye 
must prefer; his audacity, ye must admire. The Al- 
mighty plans and his ambassadors execute. Holy men of 
God, moved by the Holy Ghost, and taught of J esus, reve- 
rently found a church upon him, as the chief corner stone, 
and themselves, with the prophets, as the foundation. It is 
wisefy ordered in all things and sure. Baptism is its porch, 
and the table of the Lord is its altar. In the room of the 
Jewish hierarchy, the high priest, the priest, and the levite, 
there is revealed the high priest Jesus, who has gone up 
into heaven, and upon earth the apostle, the presbyter, 
and the deacon. Against this economy, not one murmur- 
ing voice was raised. Into this ark, there were daily 
added numbers of such as should be saved. From this 
church militant, Stephen was first translated to the church 
triumphant. And thereafter, innumerable were the noble 
army of martyrs, who emulated his example, that they 
might partake of his reward. "Christ also loved the 
church and gave himself for it ; that he might sanctify and 
cleanse it with the washing of water, by the word ; that 
he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having 
spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be 
holy and without blemish." 



32 



SERMON III. 



Yes, brethren, all this was accomplished, all this fully 
and divinely ordered. Converts looked on with admira- 
tion. Antiquity received it, with implicit faith and uni- 
versal accord. The persons, of whom I am speaking, 
acquiesce in the truth of every statement, here submitted. 
They even acknowledge presbyterianism, with its large 
brood of discordant churches, to have only broken the shell 
and quickened into life, under the incubation of Calvin, in 
the fore part of the sixteenth century. And yet, wonderful 
to relate, it is deemed expedient by them, to strike the 
banner of Jesus, so far as his visible church is concerned, 
and make their voyage to heaven under the presbyterian 
flag. 

I am astonished at their boldness. 1 am startled at the 
facility, with which they venture to ensure their salvation 
on such a policy as this. Rocks lurk beneath them. 
Quicksands, on every side, threaten to devour their pre- 
carious barks. It is not indeed to be endured, that they 
would intentionally libel the wisdom of the Father of 
Lights. And still, what libel can be greater than that, 
which virtually attaches greater forecaste and penetration 
to man than to him ? Nothing less can be predicated of 
the fact, if it be a fact, that it is more expedient to be a 
dissenter than a churchman. It is as much as to say to 
the Most High ; Though you have established a church, 
and fenced it about with such safeguards, as your best 
judgment decided were all sufficient ; though your inspired 
apostle even proceeded to the length of pronouncing it to be 
" the pillar and ground of the truth," yet has the light of ex- 
perience enabled us to discover as good, nay, a more excel- 
lent, way. Circumstances alter cases. Times have chang- 
ed. What might have been well adapted to a barbarous, 
does not work so well in an enlightened, age. Union was 
doubtless advisable then, and to the church of that time, as 
the one body of which Christ was the head, and which he 
purchased with his "blood, it would be presumption in us to 
object. But pardon us if we tell you, that other counsels 
and another system work better, at this remote period. 
We design no affront. We only speak from observation. 
We have tried what your wisdom framed. It has been 
weighed in the balances suspended from our reforming 
hands, and has been found wanting. 



SERMON III. 



33 



Placed in this glaring aspect, I know, brethren, that ye 
will shrink, with a kind of instinctive honour, from deduc- 
tions, arrogant and even impious as these. Ye would far 
sooner cut off a right hand, or pluck out a right eye, than 
deliberately avow them. But the reductio ad absurdum, or 
consequences carried out and arrayed in all their legitimate 
absurdity, is often requisite to alarm and goad the con- 
science. And ask yourselves, if the medicine be not ex- 
actly conformable to the type of your disorder, and the cri- 
sis to which it has arrived. If I have set down aught in 
malice, on me be the blame, on me the penalty. If I have 
had the moral courage to speak the truth, let me crave the 
blessing of your thanks ; let me enjoy the happiness of 
bringing you back to a long relinquished fold. 

It is easy to flatter oneself with the idea, that differently 
constituted churches are strictly in unison with differently 
constituted minds, and are therefore necessarily right. 
But a similar dogma would apply, with equal force, to all 
the various forms of religion. It might be argued, that 
though Christianity is to be preferred by us, yet are the 
moslem faith and the innumerable systems of paganism 
better suited to their respective adherents. They too 
might talk of expediency, without intending to wound the 
honour of the great I Am. They might cavil, for you would 
call it cavilling, with all the plausibility imaginable, about 
their peculiar circumstances and peculiar habits of think- 
ing. On this, your own ground, they might laud their an- 
cient superstitions, and proclaim them infinitely preferable, 
for their use, to the gospel of our redemption. 

But there are none, who would more promptly than 
yourselves exclaim against their blindness, or attempt to 
disabuse them of their credulity. Ye would look with in- 
effable disdain upon the principle, and with eyes suffused 
with tears of commiseration, upon the maintainers of the 
principle, that, under certain modifications of time, place, 
and manners, it is expedient to forego the religion of God, 
and bow the neck to the yoke of Moloch, or harness the 
soul to the car of Mohammed. 

Allow me then, brethren, to say unto you, in the spirit of 
kindness and in the words of the proverb, quoted by the 
Lord Jesus, " Physician, heal thyself." You will under- 
stand me, as appealing to those of you only, who admit the 
3* 



34 



SERMON III. 



divine institution of episcopacy. For in your case, the an- 
alogy presented is perfect. And how can ye, with a clear 
conscience contend that presbyterianism is in any respect 
the more expedient ? If it be actually thus, it must be the 
wiser, it must be the better, system. Nothing else could 
entitle it to such a designation. In my view, it would be 
highly irreverend to recognise it as equally good. But to 
cling to it, on the pretext of its being the most expedient, 
what is this but to say, that man has outvied the Deity in 
wisdom, and excelled him by the better adaptation of a 
required means to a given end? I cannot make it one iota 
the less. And ye, who are more nearly concerned, do ye 
judge yourselves, that ye be not judged of the Lord. I 
speak with great plainness and freedom. It becometh my 
office and ministry, and the honest will not be offended ; 
the honest will like me the better, will take heed to their 
ways ; and if they perceive the cogency of the reasoning 
employed, temporal stumbling blocks will cease to obstruct 
them in the path of their duty ; soon shall we have the in- 
expressible pleasure of cordially welcoming them, as fellow 
labourers and workers together with us, in the spiritual 
vineyard planted by the Lord of hosts. 

But it is time to discuss the subject, so that the applica- 
tion may be more general and comprehensive, though it 
concerns every one to reflect, that if he prefers presbyte- 
rianism to episcopacy, even without acknowledging the 
peculiar divine origin of the latter ; yet, if it be divine, there 
must be some faulty negligence in overlooking its just 
claims, or some obliquity of the moral vision, which could 
discern no beauties in the building, of which God was the 
architect, while that, projected by the genius of Calvin, 
could appear sparkling with gems of glory, from the foun- 
dation to the apex. Such a choice, it must be confessed, 
though made in ignorance of the real author of either, and 
only upon a comparison of relative merit, can never lay 
claim to the praise of being a happy choice. If a heathen 
philosopher, not knowing the source from whence they 
came, should eulogize the koran, at the expense of the bible, 
how deep would be his mortification, how humbly would 
he think of his spiritual affinities, when at length brought 
to the conviction, that the fable of an impostor had stood 
higher in his estimation, than the truth of a God. For the 



SERMON III. 



35 



same reason, the reclaimed infidel the more decidedly 
loathes the writings he once accounted the perfection of 
wisdom. His proud heart, he finds, could beat responsive 
to the ribaldry of Paine, or the courtly irony of Boling- 
broke, when it should have been prone, at the radiant feet 
of Jesus, the Son of the living God. And though ye were 
to remind him of his ignorance, he triumphs not in that ig- 
norance, as an extenuating plea. How will it be at the 
dreadful day of judgment, with those, who have ignorant- 
ly derided the true bride of Christ, in their intemperate 
zeal for such brides, as have been espoused to him, by hu- 
man sanction alone ? That day itself must tell. Charity 
thinketh no evil. Charity hopeth all things. 

I pass on to the consideration of a distinction, constant- 
ly made, in relation to the religion of Christ, the distinction 
into things essential and not essential. Often have I put 
the question to both dissenting divine and layman ; What 
are the essentials of religion? Among other things, there- 
ply includes faith in our Lord Jesus Christ ; a reply, meet- 
ing with my perfect and entire concurrence. But a sec- 
ond and a very natural inquiry is, What is it, that makes 
faith essential to salvation ? I have been told, because it 
lies at the foundation of all religion. And to this answer, 
to all of a similar character, I have invariably objected, for 
the very obvious reason, that, instead of resolving the mat- 
ter, it only removes it a step further from the right solu- 
tion ; it only leads to an infinite series of such questions as 
this, What is it, that makes that which lies at the founda- 
tion of all religion essential to salvation ? And when this 
difficulty has been urged, never have I seen men more 
completely nonplussed, than those in question. They pro- 
fess not to understand what is meant. Though shrewd 
and sensible upon most subjects, they stumble in their ef- 
forts to compass a reply, than which nothing can be more 
simple or conclusive, nor any thing that ought to be more 
familiar to the lips of every sabbath school boy in the land. 
It is this: Faith in Jesus is essential to salvation, because God 
commands it. Hear the declaration of his own inspired 
apostle ; " This is his commandment, that we should be- 
lieve on the name of his son Jesus Christ, and love one 
another, as he gave us commandment." 

Yes, brethren, ye may revolve this high concern over 



3d 



SERMON III. 



and over again in your minds, and never will ye be able 
to produce a more satisfactory reply. Indeed, it stands 
alone. It can neither be rivalled nor gainsayed. The 
propriety of such faith may be enforced by a variety of 
arguments. The philosophy of it may be exhibited, by a 
numerous train of beautiful illustrations. But its neces- 
sity, its strict and uncompromising necessity, this, I main- 
tain, can only be referred to the all authoritative behest of 
the great Jehovah. Had no such command proceeded 
from his omnipotent throne, belief in Jesus would have 
been no more essential to eternal life, that belief in Aris- 
totle or Pythagoras. But " thus saith the Lord," towers 
above all philosophy, and shouts contempt upon all contra- 
diction, in such tone and compass, as will ultimately awe 
to silence its loudest din. 

Thinking, as I have often thought, upon the numberless 
incongruous creeds, so prevalent in the christian world ; 
creeds, differing not simply upon minor points, but upon 
those which are affirmed by many to be absolutely indis- 
pensable to our final enjoyment of heaven, I have supposed 
that good service might be done to my fellow men, by 
simplifying, as much as possible, the now exceedingly in- 
tricate concerns of religion, and bringing what is material, 
within the clear comprehension of all the sane and serious. 
To do this, by enumerating a long list of doctrines and 
practices, would be nothing to the purpose. It has been 
often done, without producing one single movement on the 
road to harmony. It has been seen, that after all, private 
judgment has set forth this doctrine and rejected that, in- 
sisted upon one practice and interdicted another. I shall 
make no such specifications. I rather wish to generalize, 
to crowd out details, and bring forward some general prin- 
ciple, which shall encircle all the debated points in divinity, 
within its comprehensive grasp. 

And that principle is already before you. Its applica- 
tion to faith in Christ is but an example of the manner, in 
which it is to be applied to all else, within the range of 
heavenly teaching. Christian friends and brethren, ye 
may discourse as long and as sagaciously as ye please, 
about essentials and non-essentials, I agree to the dis- 
tinction, when advisedly made ; but the more ye study 
your bibles, the more ye will be satisfied, that the only 



SERMON III. 



37 



sound principle is this ; Every thing commanded by God 
is essential to be obeyed, for the purpose of obtaining, 
through Christ, the blessing of life eternal. To this crite- 
rion, all theology is easily subjected. If ye will question 
me about any doctrine, any ordinance, any virtue ; and I 
succeed in proving, that they are required to be entertain- 
ed, by the express testimony of the word of God, why then 
I prove to you of either, that it is essential to salvation. 
If baptism be commanded, it follows the same rule with 
faith, and humility with baptism. Non-essentials, on the 
contrary, are to be limited to those things which are uncom- 
manded. The wearing or not wearing the gown, and 
surplice, and bands ; the use or disuse of the organ ; with 
a multitude of other particulars of mere conventional au- 
thority. 

And now, brethren, ye are put in possession of the 
whole substratum of my religion, the elementary principle 
into which I resolve all its accidents and all its philosophy. 
Religion, experimental religion. I mean, depends on these 
two things, and these alone ; first, commands from God, 
directed to man ; and secondly, obedience, sincere obedi- 
ence, on the part of man. Nothing can be more simple 
than this. Nothing can be easier to be understood. I 
design, then to prove it, at large, from the scriptures and 
from reason, to answer objections, and challenge all refuta- 
tion. If successful, the application may be as extensive as 
you choose. It is my present purpose to bring it to bear 
upon the subject of the church and its ministry ; in fact, to 
take up this ill digested controversy in a new light, and 
morally compel, rather than adroitly persuade, men to 
wend their way to that fold, over which the good Shep- 
herd has always graciously presided ; in whose love we 
rejoice, and in whose sure promises, we shall never cease 
to confide. Amen. 



SERMON IV. 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

FOR ZIOn's SAKE WILL I NOT HOLD MY PEACE, AND FOR 

Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETH. 

At the close of the preceding discourse, I have asserted, 
that the only sound principle, on the subject of essentials 
and non-essentials, is this ; Every thing commanded by 
God is essential to be obeyed, for the purpose of obtaining 
through Christ the blessing of life eternal : I have insisted, 
of experimental religion, that it is compounded of com- 
mands from God, and sincere obedience to those commands 
on the part of man : I have also promised to prove the 
truth of these propositions from the scriptures, to answer 
objections, and challenge all refutation. 

And sorry am I, brethren, to be compelled to go 
through such process as this. One might reasonably have 
thought, that the mere statement of categories, so plain 
and simple, would have been all sufficient to ensure a fa- 
vourable reception, from every christian professor. In the 
primitive church, it would have been deemed plenary evi- 
dence of a melancholy declension from the true faith of 
Christ, had existing circumstances indicated the necessity 
of pursuing a course like this. And believe me, the lapse 
of centuries has not changed the nature or the power of 
godliness. A melancholy declension, in the shape of un- 
belief, is now visible on every side. As a fatal incubus, it 
crowns the bosom of Christendom. As a subtle poison, it 
creeps through all its arteries, and paralyzes its once vigor- 
ous and healthy action. By recurring to elementary prin- 
ciples, I would chase this monster from his lair ; I would 



SERMON IV. 



39 



extract this virus from the moral conduit, it so baleful ly oc- 
cupies. 

To effect an object so desirable, it will be requisite to 
advert to what the Almighty himself hath said, in rela- 
tion to his commandments. In this age of novelty, the 
voice of the multitude, without the shadow of reason, pro- 
nounces the keeping of many of them to be utterly unes- 
sential to the soul's salvation ; and the consequence is, that 
nothing can be more lightly esteemed than their infraction. 
But when we consult the scriptures, for the purpose of as- 
certaining our duty, relying upon them rather than men, a 
widely different conclusion is irresistibly forced upon our 
minds. No license for unrepented sin do they bring to 
market. No price current do they recognise, regulating 
the sale of indulgences for its commission. No apology 
in its extenuation, however handsomely or courteously ex- 
pressed, do they tolerate. In the old testament, it is not 
only here and there, it is every where, that the integrity 
of the divine commandments is fully established. The 
keeping of them is enforced, the breaking of them is de- 
nounced, to an extent, which I am afraid most christians 
will be surprised to witness, if they simply take some ap- 
proved concordance in their hands, and glance over the 
columns, devoted to the verb, command, with the corres- 
ponding noun, and their inflections. Time and again do 
they occur. More words are expended upon this topick 
than upon any other. The forms of speech are various. 
The keeping and breaking are not always brought into 
juxtaposition. But either jointly or separately, there are 
not only tens, there are hundreds, of passages presenting 
statements, explicit and decisive as this, " Behold I set be- 
fore you this day a blessing and a curse : A blessing, if ye 
obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I 
command you this day ; And a curse, if ye will not obey 
the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside 
out of the way which I command you this day, to go after 
other gods which ye have not known." 

It may be thought tedious, perhaps idle, to be more par- 
ticular than this. But trust me, brethren, it is high time 
that the supreme authority of God should be thoroughly 
vindicated, though it be to the prejudice of upstart theolo- 
gy on the one hand, or of hollow hearted liberality on the 



40 



SERMON IV. 



other. At the risk of incurring even your displeasure, I 
must be permitted to set in order a few of those numerous 
passages, which weigh with me infinitely more than all 
the fooleries, too long dignified, by the style and title of 
metaphysicks. 

In the second chapter of Genesis, " the Lord God com- 
manded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden, thou 
mayest freely eat : But of the tree of the knowledge of 
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it ; for in the day, that 
thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." No requirement 
could be more forcibly given, no penalty for transgression 
more clearly annexed. And what else but to keep it invi- 
olate, constituted the test of Adam's religion ? Nothing, 
absolutely nothing. You may speculate, until ye are tired, 
of those properties of the mind and heart, which in him 
created emotions of love and gratitude towards his benev- 
olent Maker. I will not contest their existence nor that of 
numerous other good affections. But if ye pretend to in- 
sinuate, that, during the days of his innocence, he was 
morally subject to any other law than the law above reci- 
ted, ye go beyond the record, and are wise above what is 
written. I eschew all such tampering with the scriptures, 
and earnestly believe, that, if the fruit of that forbidden 
tree had remained untouched, paradise would have contin- 
ued to bloom and Adam to live to this day. But as it was, 
sin entered, and death by sin. Such is the testimony of 
the bible, pertaining to the first religion, to the giving and 
the breaking of the first commandment. And he, who 
doubts it, need not travel far to find it amply verified, by 
the blight which desolates his own heart, and the narrow 
cell which terminates every lane in the journey of life. 

In the twentieth chapter of Exodus, the sanction of the 
second commandment is couched in these words, " For I 
the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity 
of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth 
generation of them that hate me ; and showing mercy unto 
thousands of them that love me, and keep my command- 
ments." 

In the twenty-sixth chapter of Leviticus, long is the 
catalogue of blessings, which the Lord promises the Jews, 
on the condition, " If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my 
commandments and do them :" And longer still is the list of 



SERMON IV. 



41 



woes, enumerated in their hearing, " If ye shall despise my 
statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye 
will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my 
covenant." 

In the fifteenth chapter of Numbers, a fringe was to be 
put by the children of Israel, upon the borders of their 
garments, with a riband of blue. The object was to have 
a constant memento of their duty before their eyes, and is 
expressed in these terms, " that ye might look upon it, and 
remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them," 
" and be holy unto your God." There also, brethren, ye 
may learn the retribution to be inflicted, " If ye have erred 
and not observed all these commandments, which the Lord 
hath spoken unto Moses." The sins of ignorance are in- 
deed so far winked at, as to be forgiven, on the presentation 
of certain offerings, to be sacrificed as an atonement by 
the priest. " But the soul that doth aught presumptuous- 
ly," " the same reproacheth the Lord ; and that soul shall 
be cut off from among his people. Because he hath de- 
spised the word of the Lord, and hath broken his com- 
mandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off ; his iniquity 
shall be upon him." 

In the twenty-seventh chapter of Deuteronomy, we 
have the origin of the commination service, still annually 
celebrated by the church of England. It was to be made 
use of, after the passage of the Jordan, and was designed 
the more strongly to fasten upon the minds of the Israelites, 
just emerging from the wilderness, the solemn obligation 
they were under to " obey the voice of the Lord God, and 
do his commandments and his statutes." Blessings were 
to proceed from mount Gerizim, and cursings from Ebal. 
I will restrict myself to two specimens of the latter. 
They were twelve in number, and were each of them to 
be followed by the audible assent of the people to the male- 
diction pronounced. " The Levites shall speak, and say 
unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice :" " Cursed be 
he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way : And 
all the people shall say, amen." " Cursed be he, that con- 
firmeth not all the words of this law to do them : And all 
the people shall say, amen." No commentary of mine can 
add to the sublimity of this transaction, performed, as it 
was, in the presence of the innumerable host of Israel. I 
4 



42 



SERMON IV, 



can only refer you to the succeeding chapter, where ye will 
find such blessings entailed upon the obedient, such dreadful 
imprecations and woes upon the disobedient, as are enough 
to move a heart of stone ; as should induce every one of 
us to cry out in the words of the false prophet, Balaam, 
overwhelmed with confusion at the immensity of the divine 
power, and gazing upon the very people of whom we are 
speaking, divinely protected from the curses of his mouth, 
" Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the 
fourth part of Israel ? Let me die the death of the right- 
eous, and let my last end be like his !" 

From the five books of Moses ouly, I have therefore se- 
lected abundant evidence of the absolute necessity of per- 
forming all the commandments of God. Nor is it the tithe 
of what actually exists. The other historical books of the 
old testament, the hagiography, and the prophets are full 
of similar declarations. Constantly do we hear of keeping 
the commandments, of obeying the voice, of doing the will, 
of observing the statutes, of fulfilling the word, of the Lord. 
As constantly do we perceive rewards to be promised to 
the righteous, and punishments to be laid up in store for the 
unrighteous. If any man among you, brethren, doth yet 
doubt the correctness of the character, I have given of the 
Jewish religion, these are " the words of the preacher, the 
son of David, king of Jerusalem," and are so plain and di- 
rect, that they must necessarily silence every honest scru- 
ple. " Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter : 
Fear God and keep his commandments ; for this is the 
whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into 
judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or 
whether it be evil." If any of you should continue to 
question the principle of making the keeping of the com- 
mandments essential to salvation, under the Jewish econo- 
my, Ezekiel shall decide between us. These are his words 
or rather the words of God. " The soul that sinneth, it 
shall die." " But if the wicked will turn from all his sins 
that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do 
that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall 
not die. All his transgressions that he hath committed, 
they shall not be mentioned unto him : In his righteous- 
ness that he hath done he shall live." " But when the 
righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and com- 



SERMON IV. 



43 



mitteth iniquity, and doth according to all the abominations 
that the wicked man doth, shall he live ? All his righteous- 
ness that he hath done shall not be mentioned. In his tres- 
pass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath 
sinned, in them shall he die." 

But all this, it will be said, is from the Jewish scriptures. 
The law indeed was exceedingly rigid and exact. But we 
are under a milder dispensation. And no such principles, 
as those advocated by you, are to be found within the verge 
of the gospel. Miserable infatuation ! Fatal ignorance ! 
The entire ceremonial law, with its sanguinary sacrificial 
rites, and other ceremonies, so justly accounted a yoke of 
bondage, is unquestionably abolished. It requires no 
prophet to tell us that. But the moral law, the ten com- 
mandments, he must be a knave, who shall dare to falsify 
the whole tenour of the gospel, by insisting that it has made 
the original obligation to obey them, null and void. They 
contain not a single duty, which is not loudly repeated in 
the new dispensation. Jesus condenses them into the first 
and great commandment, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God," and the second, which " is like unto it, Thou shalt 
love thy neighbour as thyself." In another place, he ex- 
pressly affirms, " Think not that I am come to destroy the 
law or the prophets : I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." 
So little favour did the antinomian spirit obtain in his 
discourse, that he even proceeded to show, that his doc- 
trine was of a higher instead of a lower degree of purity, 
not only regulating actions but passions, the thoughts and 
intents of the heart as well as external compliances : " Ye 
have heard, that it was said by them of old time, Thou 
shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you, that who- 
soever looketh on a woman, to lust after her, hath commit- 
ted adultery with her already in his heart." So far was 
the apostle from imagining an inferiour degree of enormity 
and of punishment, to be attached to the violation of the 
gospel in comparison of the law, that his argument is thus 
clear and striking ; " He that despised Moses's law died 
without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how 
much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought 
worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and 
hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was 
sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the 



44 



SERMON IV. 



Spirit of grace ? For we know him that hath said, ven- 
geance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the 
Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge his people. It is 
a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." 

Little of discernment therefore, brethren, is necessary 
to perceive, that the greater mildness of the gospel is to be 
imputed to the nature of the duties it enjoins, not to the 
authority which upholds them, or to the severity visited 
upon their infringement. The very circumstance of their 
being mild and easy of performance, where the heart is 
changed, is indeed of itself conclusive evidence of there 
being greater guilt with the christian than with the Jewish 
rebel, and, of course, that a severer punishment impends 
over his head. The unpardonable sin was never charged 
upon men, until Christ wrought such miracles in their 
presence, that the attributing of them to the power of Beel- 
zebub involved the crime of blaspheming the Holy Ghost. 

What then is the actual testimony borne upon the pages 
of the new testament, in relation to the unrepealed com- 
mands of God, and such as were added to them by the 
holy Jesus ? Many persons avow themselves to be warmly 
enlisted in his favour. Strong encomiums do they pro- 
nounce on his character ; and to hear them talk, ye would 
think he had no more efficient friends, on the face of the 
globe. But what is the rule given by him, wherewith we 
may rightly estimate the existing emotions of our hearts ? 
" Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." 
Suppose that we transcend the limits of friendship, and in- 
quire into the nature of the more ardent affection, love, 
whether in our bosoms it burns towards him or not ; The 
rule is still unvaried ; " If ye love me keep my command- 
ments." " He that hath my commandments and keepeth 
them, he it is that loveth me." " He that loveth me not 
keepeth not my sayings." 

It is even beyond all doubt, that hatred towards God is 
only predicated of the conduct of such as are disobedient 
to his commands. They have nothing treasured up against 
him, synonymous with the malice oftentimes borne against 
their fellow men ; no vindictive feelings of wrath and in- 
dignation; no fiendlike emotions of revenge. Is it said, 
that " the carnal mind is enmity against God V The rea- 
son is not withheld, and is in perfect coincidence with what 



SERMON IV. 



45 



has been just advanced, I give it you in the words of 
Paul ; " For it is not subject to the law of God, neither in- 
deed can be." The not being subjected to his law is there- 
fore the fact, on which the charge of hatred or enmity- 
is made to rest. That subjection is also evidently incom- 
patible with excessive devotion to mere temporal pleasure, 
-and upon this very principle, it is written ; " Know ye not 
that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? 
Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the 
enemy of God." 

Nor can any thing be more decisive than the terms em- 
ployed in describing the opposite emotion of love. It is 
not enthusiastick feeling nor my stick devotion. It is not 
allied to such passion as friend indulges towards friend or 
suitor for his mistress. If any one, by working himself up 
into some highly excitable frame of mind, should boast of 
the tenderness of his love towards his Maker, saint John is 
at hand to assure him, " This is the love of God, that we 
keep his commandments." Should he persist in his hallu- 
cination, and appeal to the extent of his knowledge of the 
Son, as conclusive of the right state of the heart towards 
the Father ; the same John emphatically replies ; " Here- 
by we do know that we know him, if we keep his com- 
mandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not 
his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 
But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of 
God perfected : Hereby know we that we are in him." 

Away then, brethren, with all that mass of crudities, 
which has so long passed current for sound doctrine and 
unassailable divinity. The only genuine religion, accord- 
ing to both the old testament and the new, consists in obe- 
dience ; in such love and reverence for the Deity, as is 
exhibited in the conscientious observance of every thing 
commanded in his holy word. If this be not the way to 
life eternal, and absolutely essential to salvation ; why did 
Jesus say, " I know that his commandment is life everlast- 
ing !" Why did such ever to be remembered discrimination 
as this fall from his blessed lips ; " Not every one that saith 
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heav- 
en ; but he that doth the will of my Father which is in 
heaven ?" Time and again, when the question was put to 
him, " Good master, what shall I do that I may inherit 

4* 



46 



SERMON IV. 



eternal life ?" Time and again, did he advert to the dec- 
alogue in this manner ; " Thou knowest the command- 
ments, Do not commit adultery ; do not kill ; do not steal ; 
do not bear false witness ; defraud not ; honour thy father 
and mother." But what need of this, what need of the 
subsequent gospel commands, provided the keeping of all 
was not the grand desideratum in religion ? I can arrive at 
no other conclusion. If this be not true, the reply of Je- 
sus was eminently irrelevant and unmeaning. It is only 
on the supposition of its being true, that we can commend 
his wisdom, and counsel the sinner thus to take up his cross 
and follow him. 

Disobedience, on the other hand, is the sure precursor 
of eternal death. According to Paul, God " will render to 
every man according to his deeds. To them, who, by pa- 
tient continuance in well doing, seek for glory, and honour, 
and immortality, eternal life : But unto them that are con- 
tentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteous- 
ness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon 
every soul of man that doth evil, of the Jew first and also 
of the gentile." In the second epistle to the Thessalonians, 
he represents the fate of the finally impenitent, in this nev- 
er to be forgotten prediction : " The Lord Jesus shall be re- 
vealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming 
fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that 
obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ ; who shall 
be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence 
of the Lord and from the glory of his power." 

As briefly as was consistent with the dignity of the sub- 
ject, I have therefore adduced incontrovertible proof, that 
the keeping of the commandments comprehends the whole 
duty of man, and is essential to the life of glory and of bliss. 
It is, brethren, ye must admit, the new testament doctrine 
no less than the old. From its hallowed pages, I could 
have quoted numerous passages as strong and even strong- 
er than those already spread before you. But the multi- 
plication, sometimes weakens the force of evidence, and be- 
sides this, I have reserved much to be employed in the 
discussion of some collateral topicks, to which I have to 
solicit your immediate and patient attention. 

Let me however counsel you, at this time, to remember 
those words of the Lord Jesus, which indicate that he also 



S E R M ON IV. 



47 



felt the necessity, and was subjected to the principle, of 
moral obligation. To his parents, he said, " How is it that 
ye sought me ? Wist ye not that I must be about my Fa- 
ther's business ?" On another occasion, his declaration ex- 
hibits the perfect harmony existing between his obligation 
and his practice. " I have meat to eat that ye know not 
of."' " My meat is. to do the will of him that sent me, and 
to finish his work." And if any of you should practically 
imagine, that the like harmony is not enjoined upon your 
observance, Paul gives this memorable description of our 
Saviour's submission to his Father's commands, and of the 
persons to whom apply the promises, who alone are to be 
benefitted by his most precious death and sacrifice for sin ; 
" Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the 
things which he suffered ; and being made perfect, he be- 
came the author of eternal salvation unto all them that 
obey him." 

But some of you may object, that the doctrine sustained 
by me, is not sufficiently broad and comprehensive to in- 
clude the wide range of a christian's duty. Ye may say, 
that ye cannot be satisfied with the formality consequent 
upon my views ; that ye want more of heart religion, the 
laying out of the heart in the work and the power of god- 
liness. To all which. I answer, that there is nothing in 
heart religion, which is not to be traced to the principle of 
obedience. The commands of God are not limited to the 
ministry, to baptism, to confirmation, to the Lord's supper. 
They are not even exhausted upon the many prohibitions, 
such as, " Thou shalt not loll," and " Be not drunk with wine, 
wherein is excess." They rather embrace every pious 
act of the mind, and every spiritual grace of the heart. 

Already have I shown you, that faith in Jesus is ex- 
pressly commanded. And repentance occupies the like 
position. John the baptist preached in the imperative 
form. " saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at 
hand ;" Jesus himself to the same purport, " Repent ye and 
believe the gospel." Of the gentiles it is written, " The 
times of this ignorance God winked at ; but now com- 
mandeth all men every where to repent." And repent- 
ance is the turning away of the mind from iniquity to all 
virtue and godliness of living. It includes abstract qualities 
no less than specifick actions. Ye are commanded, not 



48 



SERMON IV. 



merely requested or exhorted, to " add to your faith virtue ; 
and to virtue, knowledge ; and to knowledge, temperance : 
and to temperance, patience ; and to patience, godliness ; 
and to godliness, brotherly-kindness ; and to brotherly- 
kindness, charity." Ye are commanded, not merely re- 
quested or exhorted, to be " born of the Spirit," to "walk in 
the Spirit;" and to bear " the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, 
peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, 
temperance : against such there is no law." The law is 
rather imperative in requiring their possession. And the 
same remark applies to zeal and fervency of spirit : to 
simplicity of mind, sincerity, and perseverance. All vir- 
tues, all graces are commanded. If not commanded, it 
would not be necessary to have them in keeping, or even in 
remembrance. But being commanded, no man can avoid 
the obligation they impose. 

And thus, brethren, your objection is easily obviated. 
I have swept from you the very ground on which it stood. 
Nothing is so pitiable in my eyes as that form of religion, 
which may be assimilated to the actual condition of the 
marble statue ; without, prevails a snowy whiteness ; 
within, there is not the semblance of a heart. Do thou 
therefore, " O Almighty God, who alone canst order the un- 
ruly wills and affections of sinful men, do thou grant unto 
thy people, that they may love the thing which thou com- 
mandest, and desire that which thou dost promise, that so, 
among the sundry and manifold changes of the world, our 
hearts may surely there be fixed, where true joys are to be 
found, through Jesus Christ our Lord." Amen. 



SERMON V. 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

for zign's sake will i not hold my peace, and for 
Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETH. 

In opposition to the statements already made, upon the 
subject of the commandments and the essentials of religion, 
it may be thought, that the grand distinction, between 
the positive institutions and the moral requirements of the 
Deity, has been entirely overlooked. In criminal jurispru- 
dence, for instance, they divide offences into these two 
classes, those which are evil in themselves, as murder, 
robbery, adultery, false witness ; and those which are only 
evil from the circumstance of their being prohibited, as 
voting at an election before arriving at the required age, or 
non-compliance with the enactments of the military code. 
And I like this discrimination well, because to the former 
class belong the violation of those prohibitions, which pro- 
ceed from the throne of the Infinite ; whereas it is human 
law alone, which fixes the age of majority at twenty one 
years ; human law alone, which demands a precautionary 
knowledge of the tacticks and the weapons of war. 

But to draw the line between what is malum in se and 
what malum prohibitum, and apply it to the statutes of the 
Lord, this is monstrous presumption, is unfounded in fact, 
and indefensible in principle. The effect is to make one 
commandment of less obligation than another, though both 
proceed from the same high authority. In virtue of this 
ill advised doctrine, while belief in Jesus is admitted to be 
essential, while the like admission is made in favour of the 
moral law, yet are baptism and the Lord's supper denied 



50 



SERMON V. 



the same appellation. My position, on the contrary, takes 
the ground that the divine command alone makes the doing 
or the not doing of any thing essential. And if this posi- 
tion be correct, all the commandments are placed upon the 
same footing. They are all to be kept inviolate. If you 
transcend this, and assert that to be born of water is not 
material, although explicitly commanded; I may assert 
the same of faith, of repentance, of holiness, since nothing 
more creating responsibility on our part, can be alleged of 
either, than the fact of its being commanded of God. 

The whole subject, however, deserves a far more ex- 
tended discussion, and this, brethren, I shall endeavour to 
make as clear and intelligible as possible, because the church 
itself, with its ministry, is to be regarded as a positive in- 
stitution. Most persons then make the distinction to which 
I have referred, make certain things sinful in themselves, 
and others only sinful by reason of their having been pro- 
hibited. But let me call your attention to the real nature 
of sin, as described in the sacred volume, and ye will soon 
discover the fallacy of all such casuistry as this. To begin 
with the apostle John, who is no less perspicuous than brief ; 
" Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law ; 
for sin is the transgression of the law." How vastly dif- 
ferent is this simple statement from the metaphysical sub- 
tlety of the other ! Instead of making some things sinful 
in themselves, or sinful if they had never been prohibited, 
the first clause maintains impliedly the impossibility of com- 
mitting sin without transgressing the law, and the second 
positively describes it to be nothing more nor less than the 
transgression of the law, without dividing that law in the 
manner which has been suggested. 

And the doctrine of Paul, appearing here and there in 
different parts of his epistles, is precisely the same. In 
one place, he insists, " by the law is the knowledge of sin :" 
In another, " the law worketh wrath ; for where no law is, 
there is no transgression :" In another, " until the law, sin 
was in the world ; but sin is not imputed when there is no 
law :" In another, after speaking of " the motions of sins, 
which were by the law," he goes on to affirm in the most 
emphatick manner, " nay, I had not known sin but by the 
law, for I had not known lust, except the law had said, 
Thou shalt not covet." To contend then, that sin is inde- 



SERMON V * 



53 



pendent of the law, or sinful in itself, is to contend that the 
great apostle of the gentiles was entirely ignorant of its- 
real character. To maintain, that if there had been no 
law there would have been no sin, is to maintain the very 
identical ground with him. 

And no better station do I wish to occupy. If the Al- 
mighty had never revealed his will to the children of men, 
all actions would have stood upon the same foundation, so 
far as guilt was concerned. If there had been no forbidden 
tree, Adam would not have sinned. If there had been no 
moral or ceremonial law, Israel would not have committed 
a single transgression. It was Jesus Christ himself, who 
made a similar declaration concerning the peculiar injunc- 
tions of Christianity, and those who violated them in the 
days of his flesh. " If I had not come and spoken unto 
them, they had not had sin ; but now they have no cloak 
for their sin." The consequence is, that the guilt of all 
these persons consisted in mere disobedience ; and what- 
ever guilt we contract can be referred to no other princi- 
ple. We are not to canvass a divine command, and turn 
over in our thoughts the necessity or the non-necessity of 
obeying it. We are not to class one with positive institu- 
tions, another with little things, another with simple prohi- 
bitions, and on these pretexts pronounce them to be non- 
essential. This is to substitute human wisdom for divine. 
This is to make human authority of greater weight than 
that which is divine. Samuel, with the utmost humility 
and in the spirit of instant obedience, could reply to the 
summons of his Maker, " Speak Lord, for thy servant 
heareth." But persons there are, who seem to be perpetu- 
ally striving to find out some mode or other, by which they 
can avoid complying with such of the laws of God, as are 
not exactly to their taste. Whereas, in relation to all of 
them, the common phrase, " no sooner said than done," 
should apply with invincible force. To doubt about a sin- 
gle one is the commencement, not to obey it is the consum- 
mation, of guilt. 

If ye will however persist in maintaining, that the abstract 
character of an act, rather than the divine will, is to be the 
guide of human conduct, I reply with some illustrations 
drawn from the sacred scriptures, which will prove the utter 
inadequacy of such a rule. What could be more abhorrent 



52 



SERMON V. 



to our feelings than the marriage of a brother with a sister? 
What outrage would so quicken the indignation of the com- 
munity at large, or be denounced by them as partaking more 
of the essence of pollution 'i I need not pause for an answer. 
Nothing could give a greater shock to the moral pulse of 
the land, in which we live. But it must have been the ap- 
pointment of God, that the children of Adam should have 
intermarried, the one with the other. On no other princi- 
ple, can we restrict our original creation to a single pair. 
JN~or was there any guilt incurred by such nuptials. They 
were as innocent as the marriage of this age, the farthest 
removed from the degrees of consanguinity. It was the di- 
vine law which made them thus ; and it is nothing, save 
the subsequent repeal of the ordinance and the prohibito- 
ry provisions of the Mosaick code, which justify us in re- 
probating them, as vile and incestuous now. 

Similar remarks apply to the subject of bigamy. In the 
first epistle to Timothy, it is a required qualification of bish- 
ops and deacons, that they be " husbands of one wife." 
And I need not attempt to estimate the immense amount 
of odium and of guilt, which would follow the violation of 
this injunction, on the part of the modern clergy. Bigamy 
is not even tolerated in laymen, much less in them. Its 
commission would justly transfer them from the sanctuary 
to the penitentiary, from the house of God to a den of 
thieves. But look over the annals of the old testament, 
and, if I cannot point you to a case of bigamy among 
the priests, polygamy and even concubinage flourished, at 
the instance of God, in the case of the most eminent of his 
servants. Abraham, the father of the faithful ; Jacob, who 
wrestled with God, who had power with him and prevail- 
ed ; David, the man after God's own heart, all these had a 
plurality of wives and concubines. Solomon, the wisest of 
the sons of men, had no less than a thousand of me two 
classes united ! Of polygamy and concubinage, we must 
therefore admit, that they were once lawful and right. 
They were the result of the divine decree, and it is the di- 
vine decree alone, that invests them now with the smallest 
particle of guilt. 

I will even take the case of homicide, one of the most 
atrocious crimes, and show you that all that atrocity is de- 
pendant upon divine legislation. For long after the gene- 



SERMON V. 



53 



ral law had been promulgated, " thou shalt not kill," with 
its penalty of an. earlier date, " whoso sheddeth man's blood, 
by man shall his blood be shed," long after this, the com- 
mand of the Lord came to Saul, "Go and smite Amalek, 
and utterly destroy all that they have and spare them not ; 
but slay both man, and woman, and suckling." And was 
not this command a perfect justification of the dreadful 
slaughter which ensued ? Was not this slayer of thou- 
sands upon thousands, the innocent as well as the guilty, in 
virtue of his commission, perfectly pure, though his hands 
and his feet w T ere literally died in blood ? No pious per- 
son can have the temerity to deny it. So far from blood- 
guiltiness being chargeable upon him, it was partly for 
sparing Agag, the king of Amalek, that Saul incurred the dis- 
pleasure of the Most High ; that his kingdom was taken 
from him and given to another. It was to remedy his want 
of obedience, that the prophet Samuel with his own hands, 
" hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal." And 
thus I prove to you, that homicide is a virtue and not a 
crime, when God commands it ; thus I present you with 
the only rightful warrant, ye can possibly have, for taking 
away the life of the modern murderer. 

It is indeed wonderful, that any other criterion of sin than 
the criterion here upheld should ever have been recognised 
by christians, when that which the scriptures represent as 
the most exalted instance of human faith and obedience, if 
fully accomplished, would be stigmatized as one of the foul- 
est of murders, in our day and generation. I allude to the 
attempted sacrifice of Isaac. At the command of God, 
" Abraham built an altar, and laid the wood in order, and 
bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the 
wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took 
the knife to slay his son." But the angel of the Lord in- 
terrupted him. For what purpose ? To expostulate with 
him on account of his wickedness ? To denounce him as 
guilty in intention of a most cruel and unnatural murder 1 
No, no such thing : Unqualified praise was rather bestowed 
upon this admirable old man. His son's life indeed was 
spared ; but blessing and honour was conferred upon him, 
for the alacrity with which he proceeded to offer it in sacri- 
fice to his great Creator. Listen to the voice and the words 
which came down from heaven;. "By mvself have I 

5 



54 



SERMON V. 



sworn, saith the Lord ; for because thou hast done this 
thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son ; that in 
blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply 
thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand upon 
the sea shore ; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his 
enemies : And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth 
be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice." 

Mark ye, brethren, this last particular, mark ye the won- 
derful cause of all this profusion of grace, "because thou hast 
obeyed my voice." It was not for any thing good or bad 
in the action, separate from the motive. In this point of 
view, it would be pronounced by us decidedly evil, repug- 
nant to humanity, and at war with the principle of natural 
affection. It was because of the unrivalled spirit of obedi- 
ence and of faith manifested by him, that Abraham enjoy- 
ed the double honour of being blessed of God and of be- 
ing the instrument of blessing all nations, as the direct an- 
cestor of the Saviour of the world. No such destiny had 
been his, if he had so studied in the school of metaphysical 
divinity, as to have been able to pronounce with mathema- 
tical precision, what commands must, and what need not, 
be obeyed. With him, religion had all the simplicity, which 
I wish it to possess in this vaunted age of improvement. 
While many a modern refuses to be baptized, he circum- 
cised himself. While numbers among us decide to turn 
their backs upon the supper of the Lord as a non-essential, 
he withheld not his son, his only son Isaac, from be- 
ing the type of that more stupendous sacrifice upon the 
cross, which, in this very supper, we are commanded to 
celebrate. In a word ; the secret of Abraham's religion 
was this, he obeyed all, and disobeyed none, of the com- 
mandments of God. The greater obligation of obeying the 
moral than the positive ordinances was a refinement un- 
known to him. We may talk as we choose about actions 
being intrinsically good or intrinsically bad, without recur- 
ring to a " thus saith the Lord." In a better sense, Abra- 
ham thought the killing of Isaac to be intrinsically good ; 
but it was for no other reason than this, God commanded 
it ; otherwise, a previous prohibition, in the general form, 
would have made it intrinsically bad. 

Consider moreover, brethren, that there is scarcely an 
external action, to which we attach the idea of extreme 



SERMON V . 



55 



wickedness, that is not constantly perpetrated by the brute 
creation. Anger is theirs, and treachery, and contention. 
In the day time, they will rob, and in the night season, steal. 
They are given to gluttony, impurity, and sensuality of all 
kinds. They will even slay each other, and having slain, 
they will eat. But who therefore charges iniquity upon 
them ? Who pretends that the most ferocious of their 
number is morally accountable for this ferocity more than 
the dove for its harmlessness ? I know not the man who has 
gone to this length of insanity. Why ? For the very ob- 
vious reason, that they have no law given them to regulate 
their morals, and owing to this circumstance cannot be 
regarded as moral and responsible beings. Though, in 
popular language, we ascribe to some of them the worst 
and vilest traits of character, yet do we know that 
the wolf is F,: as good as the lamb, and the leopard as 
the kid. Almost all of them are equally tender of their 
offspring, and even those, that we most cordially hate for 
their blood-thirsty propensities do not destroy the hun- 
dredth part the amount of life, w T hich becomes the prey of 
the sweet little songsters, whose warbling notes we praise, 
though they feed upon innumerable insects. The truth is, 
that all our prejudices upon this subject are founded upon self 
love. We tolerate the cat in our houses, because she de- 
stroys vermin. But the tiger, of the same feline race, looks 
upon man as he would upon any other animal, and we kill 
him lest he should kill us. 

How conclusively then do I establish the position, that, 
separate and distinct from the law of God, and the posses- 
sion of a mind capable of comprehending that law, there 
is no such thing as guiltiness in one set of actions compar- 
ed with another. The law is essential, or how could Paul 
say, " I had not known sin, but by the law f " I had not 
known lust, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet ?" 
How could he break forth into that sublime apostrophe, 
" O death, where is thy sting ? O grave where is thy vic- 
tory ? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is 
the law. But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory, 
through our Lord Jesus Christ ?" The mind is essential, 
not only from the fact of its absence in the dumb beast, 
and the considerations already detailed, growing out of that 
circumstance ; but because it seems to be universally ad- 



56 



SERMON V. 



mittecl, that we cannot impute sin to the idiot or the maniac, 
should he curse or swear, maim or kill, owing to the intel- 
lect being defunct in the one case, and hallucinated in the 
other. 

Upon any other principle, it would indeed be difficult to 
vindicate the purity of the divine Being himself For 
although it were granted, that all the dumb animals were 
originally created in more than dove-like innocence, and 
acquired other instincts, in consequence of the fall, and for 
the punishment of human transgression ; yet is it certain, 
that they did neither sin themselves nor change their own 
natures ; yet must their present sensual propensities of all 
kinds have been ingrafted on the parent stock, by the ap- 
pointment of him, who cannot tolerate the same things 
carried to excess in man, and who, in the days of 
millennial felicity, hath promised to tame the most carniv- 
orous, and make them gentle as a lamb. He cannot 
then hate them now, because they fulfil the law of their 
being. He rather expostulates with Job, and inquires, 
" wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion, or fill the appetite of 
the young lions ?" And in the very psalm, where it is writ- 
ten, " the Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over 
all his works," David in this manner celebrates his unri- 
valled benevolence, " thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest 
the desire of every living thing." We cannot therefore pre- 
dicate sin of their actions, though wicked men are often de- 
nounced for copying their example. If we do, if the action, 
separate from a prohibitory law, be pronounced sinful by 
us, I do not see how it is possible to avoid the impious 
charge of making God the author of sin, owing to the nature 
he has given to animals incapable of intellectual or moral 
analysis. 

In the case of the human species, there is no such diffi- 
culty, because we are the subjects of the divine law, and 
are plainly prohibited from giving way to a variety of 
sensual indulgences. A system of divinity indeed there is, 
which places the Almighty in the inglorious attitude of 
forcing the creature to do the very things which he forbids 
him to do, in order that he may exercise his sovereignty, in 
punishing him everlastingly from his presence. But that 
system is not to be found in the bible. If it were, upon 
the principles already established in this discourse, there 



SERMON V . 



57 



would be no such thing as sin, because all actions would 
be performed in precise accordance with the actual, though 
not the declared, will of God. In the following singular quo- 
tation from Zuinglius, while I utterly abjure the postulate 
contained in the first clause, the remainder, if rightly appli- 
ed, is replete with sound sense and sound divinity ; " When 
God makes angels or men sin, he does not sin himself, be- 
cause he does not break any law. For God is under no 
law, and cannot therefore sin." 

To illustrate my meaning, take the case of the incendi- 
ary, whose torch has often involved cities, towns, and villa- 
ges, in one vast and disastrous conflagration : the case of the 
more malignant wretch, who, by the poisoning of aqueducts 
and wells, has sometimes caused dreadful chasms in the 
ranks of the living. Few crimes rise to a higher degree 
in the graduated scale of human guilt. They partake 
largely of the fiendish malice of infernal spirits. To as- 
sert that such men strictly adhered to the second com- 
mandment, " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as tlryself" 
would be an aggravated instance of " putting darkness for 
light." But under the operation of those laws of nature, 
which God himself hath prescribed, the lightning hath fall- 
en from heaven and kindled the devastating fire ; the mias- 
ma has proceeded from some marshy fen and insinuated 
the cholera into a dense population, consigning thousands 
upon thousands to a premature grave. And no one ven- 
tures to charge iniquity upon God ; no, not even the ab- 
sence of the glorious attribute of good will towards men. 
We rather feel the necessity and the propriety of bowing 
in reverent submission to his judgments. It is admitted to 
be wise to kiss the rod, by which we are chastised. He 
has a right to do what he chooses with his own. He is sub- 
ject to no law. He is amenable to no tribunal. He cannot 
be a transgressor. And for these reasons, were there no 
other, he can do no wrong. Napoleon will be accountable 
to him, for the millions, hurried by his instrumentality to 
their long home. But though the divine decree, " dust thou 
art, and unto dust shalt thou return," has been continually 
enforced from the fall to the existing moment, inflicting the 
most poignant anguish on the bosoms of surviving friends 
and relatives, still is the Most High just and right in all his 
ways ; still is he free from every imputation, in exercising 



58 



SERMON V . 



his prerogative of taking away human life, when the killing 
of this body, with malice prepense, on the part of man, 
must, if unrepented of, be visited with the vengeance of 
eternal fire. 

It is even beyond a doubt, that the final catastrophe 
itself is to be contemplated in no other light. Arguing after 
the manner of our abstract philosophers, who fetter the 
Almighty with rules of their own imagining, the univer- 
salist earnestly contends for the common salvation of both 
good and bad. He cannot endure the idea of endless perdi- 
tion. In his estimation, it would render our Creator vin- 
dictive and cruel, instead of forbearing and merciful. But 
the words of Paul are very clear and decisive. They are 
these ; " Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance ? I 
speak as a man. God forbid ; For then how shall God 
judge the world ?" Nothing could more thoroughly de- 
molish the reveries of both philosopher and skeptick. Let 
them torture such language to the utmost of their ability, 
it is as much as to say, Provided the taking of vengeance 
were unrighteous in itself, the world could not be judged, 
so as to be followed by the punishment of the ungodly ; 
and therefore it is not unrighteous, the Most High is not thus 
constrained, is not morally incapacitated from vindicating 
the majesty of his laws. 

I need not enlarge. If the authority already adduced 
and the reasoning employed, do not satisfactorily prove the 
doctrine contended for, it is in vain to multiply evidence 
from the scriptures, or to exhibit other modes of illustra- 
tion. My position is, that one class of actions would not 
differ from another, so far as guilt is concerned, if there 
had been no law, enjoining or inhibiting, proceeding from 
the fountain of authority. Such law alone makes the one 
intrinsically good and the other intrinsically evil, and in this 
sense only do I use the qualifying word, in the sense of the 
law being actually imposed upon our observance. 

The apostle indeed says, " until the law, sin was in the 
world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law." But 
he here refers to natural corruption, not to actual trans- 
gression. And this distinction is the key to the whole argu- 
ment, in the seventh of Romans. " Sin," that is, natural cor- 
ruption, " taking occasion by the commandment, wrought 
in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law 



SERMON V . 



59 



sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once ; but 
when the commandment came, sin revived and I died." 
To use the language of the church, " Original sin standeth 
not in the following of Adam, as the Pelagians do vainly 
talk ; but it is the fault and corruption of the nature of every 
man." And this it was of which Paul discourses, the pen- 
alty of which was taken away by the death of Christ, 
but the infection thereof still remained, and according to 
his own account, " taking occasion by the commandment, 
deceived me and by it slew me." 

In the discussion itself, I have embarked to show you, 
brethren, the extreme danger of refusing to declare your- 
selves on the side of Christ's own church, through mistak- 
en views of the positive institutions, as contradistinguished 
from those that are moral. If there were any good rea- 
son for such discrimination, it would apply with equal force 
to the holy sabbath, since one day is specifically as good as 
another. It is the commandment only, which created 
the obligation to keep the seventh day holy to the Lord. 
It is the apostolick practice alone, which has furnished us 
with a sufficient warrant to substitute in its room, the first 
day of the week, in honour of our Saviour's glorious 
resurrection from the dead. 

But are there not multitudes in your several commun- 
ions, who would shrink with horrour from the profanation 
of converting the sabbath into a common day ? Some 
among the dissenters, I know, are prepared to take this 
and any other step, whose tendency it shall be to sweep 
away, from the face of the earth, every external memorial 
of the religion of Jesus. And yet, it would be do- 
ing infinite injustice to the great majority of your num- 
ber in these United States, were it not freely acknowledg- 
ed, that ye are in this particular, of the same sentiment with 
us, that the Lord's day is sacred in your eyes, and that ye 
deem its prostitution to secular purposes a most flagrant 
sin. All then that I ask of you is to be consistent in your 
principles, so that ye may not uphold one positive institu- 
tion, while ye take no heed, lest ye be found to trample up- 
on another. If the same divine Being, who requires us to 
remember the sabbath day to keep it holy, hath also estab- 
lished the episcopal church, with its ministry, your obliga- 
tion to conform to it is no less urgent and imperative. It 



60 



SERMON V. 



cannot be avoided on slight, no more than it can on sinister, 
grounds. Especially when we would gladly receive you 
into its sheltering bosom ; when we would hasten to im- 
part to you both the ministry and the communion, encir- 
cling your clergy and your laity in the broad mantle of 
charity and the bands of love. Pause then, brethren, 
and seriously reflect before ye repel all our advances. 
The articles of religion entertained by us, can be no ob- 
stacle to those who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity 
and truth. Their doctrine is evangelical. The practice 
they inculcate is good. And " who is he that will harm 
you if ye be followers of that which is good ?" Amen, 



SERMON VI. 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

for zion's sake "will i not hold my peace, and for 
Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALTATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETII. 

A very prevailing err our, of the age in which we live, is 
kindred to the one, whose investigation has just been closed. 
A material difference is made to exist between great and 
little sins. For the former, there is but partial sympathy. 
None but the most abandoned dare openly to apologize for 
their commission. Universalists alone feel the slightest 
scruple in arraying against them, what the apostle calls 
" the judgment of God, that they which commit such things 
are worthy of death." For the latter, excuses multiply 
upon excuses ; the mildest appellatives are held in requisi- 
tion. They are not only little, they are venial, sins and 
sins of infirmity. 

Nor am I about to confound the greater with the lesser 
crimes, when weighed in the balances, the one against the 
other. Though murder be atrocious, it is not thus with a 
simple assault. Though the blasphemy of God involves the 
utmost audaciousness of sin, it cannot be rightly ascribed 
to every irreverend expression, thoughtlessly escaping the 
lips. If they, who tremblingly venture upon the borders 
of vice, at length become expert tacticians in its grossest 
career, I need not insist, that the last state of these men is 
immeasurably worse than the first. Should they arrive 
at extreme old age, repentance is almost impossible. " Can 
the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots ? 
Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do 
evil," 



62 



SERMON VI. 



But while all this is freely conceded, it does by no means 
authorize us to assert, that there is perfect and entire indem- 
nity for the minor offences. They require to be repented 
of no less than the major. Both were comprehended in 
the prayer of the psalmist ; " Cleanse thou me from secret 
faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous 
sins." There is indeed, with large numbers of the dissent- 
ers, no difficulty in assenting to the scriptural character of 
the representation here made, provided it be restrained to 
slight breaches of morality. And yet, when we proceed 
to press upon their consideration the oneness of the church 
of Christ, and the consequent duty of belonging to its king- 
dom, in preference to any one section of the anomalous 
kingdom, divided against itself, of which presbyterianism 
is the architect, too many appear predisposed to resort to 
the sneering reply, it is far better for us and for you to at- 
tend solely to the weightier matters of religion, precisely 
as if the lighter were altogether beneath their notice ; as 
if the intermeddling with such things would so seriously 
affect the spiritual thermometer, in which they confide, as 
to bring down the column of its gauge from the boiling to 
the freezing point. 

With this advice I cannot comply. In this opinion, I 
cannot concur. Much as I love the weightier matters, it is 
not to the prejudice of their copartners. If others hate 
them, they shall not be hated by me. Were it even true, 
that the constitution of the christian church and ministry 
could be suitably included within their limits, still do I 
know, that the least as well as the greatest commandments, 
claim obedience upon the same authority. They both 
come down from heaven, with the divine injunction to do 
them. And as the essence or strength of sin lies in that in- 
junction, to violate either is necessarily sinful, is something 
demanding confession from the lip and contrition in the 
heart. 

Not however to anticipate too much the argument to be 
drawn up in this discourse, against divorcing the lesser from 
the greater commandments, I dismiss all additional pream- 
ble, and take my stand at once upon the surest and most 
tenable ground, the ground of authority. What then, 
brethren, is the testimony appearing in the volume of eter- 
nal truth ? If ye were to search the christian dispensation 



SERMON VI. 



63 



from beginning to end, ye would find nothing exacted at 
your hands, which, in human apprehension, would be deem- 
ed so little imposing, as the subject of the first law given to 
man. The penalty indeed was great, though, individually, 
not greater than that which perpetually stares us in the 
face ; which is always threatening us with those gloomy 
appurtenances, the shroud and the coffin, the hearse and 
the grave. But the subject itself, apart from its sublime 
associations, does not transcend, it hardly rivals, the bap- 
tismal font and the eucharistick altar. 

What was it ? " Of the tree of the knowledge of good 
and evil, thou shalt not eat of it." Yes, brethren, during 
the days of primeval innocence, this brief sentence embra- 
ces the only restriction imposed upon the matchless pair, 
who dwelt in Eden. It is not said, that the tree itself was 
more magnificent than the rest of the trees in the garden. 
In all probability, it did not exceed in beauty the splendid 
magnolias of the south. Nor have we any good reason to 
apprehend, that its fruit, in the exteriour form and colour, 
was more tempting to the eye and taste or redolent of 
odour, than much of that which now ripens beneath the 
fervour of a torrid sun, or even within the rigour of our 
northern sky. At all events, it was not so inviting, but it 
remained untouched and untasted, until the father of lies 
poured his tale of falsehood into the deluded ear of the 
woman, when " she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat ; 
and gave also to her husband with her, and he did eat." 

And what were the consequences, the consequences of 
infringing this little commandment and doing this little 
thing ? I must confess to you, that I know of nothing 
more simple in itself. Certain I am, that there is nothing 
forbidden now from which it would be easier to refrain : 
A remark by no means affected by the stale pretence of 
the whole transaction being an allegory. And yet, for 
tasting that proscribed fruit, for doing that and less than 
that which we do every day, leaving the command out of 
the question ; for this, the whole human family received a 
wound, which time has not healed and eternity itself will 
not thoroughly cure. All are mortal here. And hereafter, 
souls there will be, whose hapless fate can only be fathom- 
ed, when we know what it is to die eternally. 

No more then am I to be told of the impunity, with 



64 



SERMON VI. 



which the mandates of heaven may be disregarded, provi- 
ded they relate to seemingly trivial concerns. For tasting 
that proscribed fruit, that little thing, recourse must be 
had to a remedy, more astonishing by far than all else 
that has challenged human admiration. For this the sec- 
ond person in the trinity, the only begotten of the great Je- 
hovah, must relinquish the bosom of his Father, must become 
incarnate of the virgin Mary, and in our nature, after en- 
during the worst of indignities, must be crucified and slain, 
must hang upon a second tree, that he might expiate the 
curse derived from the first ; that he might by the shedding 
of his precious blood furnish a ransom for human guilt and 
reconcile the world unto God. Ay, brethren, that appa- 
rently little thing nailed our gracious Redeemer to the 
cross ; and every subsequent little sin, about which we are 
so indifferent, was as necessary to be atoned for as the 
greatest ; every subsequent little sin swelled the aggregate 
borne in his suffering body, excruciated it more and more, 
even caused his fainting spirit to cry out in an acuter ex- 
tremity of anguish ; "My God, my God, why hast thou 
forsaken me ?" Think of this, therefore, all ye who are 
fain, so to extol the weightier matters, as in effect to con- 
demn the practice of the residue. It is not the doing of 
the greatest thing that will save the soul. Christ did that 
in our room and in our behalf. And still we are not saved ; 
still, to obtain an interest in his merits, we must obey all 
the requirements of the gospel ; we must heartily believe 
in him, heartily repent of all our sins, heartily do all the 
works meet for repentance. 

In the old testament the utmost emphasis is placed upon 
the word, all, in relation to the keeping of the statutes of 
the Lord. To cite every instance would be to fill pages 
on pages. The broad principle is strongly enforced in 
the prophet Jeremiah, and includes every demand upon 
Jewish obedience, announced by the ancient lawgiver ; 
" Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Cursed be the man 
that obeyeth not the words of this covenant, which I com- 
manded your fathers in the day, that I brought them forth 
out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, 
Obey my voice and do them, according to all which I 
command you : so shall ye be my people, and I will be 
your God." Nor was this a mere temporal curse, as may 



SERMON VI. 



65 



be easily seen in the latter part of the ensuing quotation, 
where many of the dead are evidently referred to, as the sub- 
jects of an eternal judgment; "For I earnestly protested unto 
your fathers ; in the day that I brought them out of the land of 
Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, say- 
ing, Obey my voice. Yet they obeyed not nor inclined 
their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their 
evil heart ; therefore I will bring upon them all the words 
of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they 
did them not." 

Close preaching this, much closer, brethren, than that 
about which so much is trumpeted in modern times, under 
the name of spirituality, though it derogate never so much 
from the spirituality of him, who after this manner spake 
by the mouth of his holy prophet. Often as I look into " all 
the words of this covenant," I find such prescriptions as 
this, " When ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt 
not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when 
thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy 
harvest ; thou shalt leave them unto the poor and the stran- 
ger : I am the Lord your God." Nay, I perceive a multi- 
tude of requisitions, which in an abstract point of view, 
would be thought disgraceful, were they to appear in the 
by-laws of the meanest corporation in the country. I will 
give you one of them, not to raise a smile, but to put down 
an evil heart of unbelief, in respect of some christian obser- 
vances. " Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, 
neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard." 

And was there no spirituality in this, no spirituality in 
*' all the words of this covenant," proceeding from a holy 
and spiritual Being ? God forbid ! In mere outward ob- 
servances indeed, there was none. But when the grand 
reforming principle of obedience, obedience to One having 
a rightful authority to command, when this was firmly fix- 
ed in the heart and entered largely into the performance of 
every law, then we may be sure, that there was spirituali- 
ty in such religion. No other in fact could be acceptable 
in the pure eye of God. Where spirituality was wanting, 
oblations were vain ; incense was an abomination ; the new 
moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, were iniqui- 
ty. " Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow 
myself before the high God ? Shall I come before liim 

6 



68 



SERMON VI. 



with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old ? Will the 
Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten 
thousands of rivers of oil ? Shall I give my first born for 
my transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of my 
soul?" The answer immediately follows, and clearly 
proves, not that all sacrifices were to be done away with, 
but that in the costliest, the most splendid sacrifices, there 
must be conjoined all the spirituality of religion, or they 
would be utterly nugatory and vain. " He hath showed 
thee, O man, what is good. And what doth the Lord re- 
quire of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to 
walk humbly with thy God ?" Humbly, that is obediently ; 
omitting nothing, and transgressing nothing, because the 
eye cannot in the external features detect a spirituality, 
which can be compassed only by the operations of the 
mind, and belongs exclusively to the hidden man of the 
heart. 

Often too have I heard the psalms of David warmly 
and justly eulogized by dissenters, for the holy fervour and 
devotional spirit, which pervade them, I cannot believe 
that they would be willing to claim a larger amount of 
spirituality, than that which is still observable in the 
case of the psalmist. And how does he describe the feli- 
city consequent upon this state of mind ? " Blessed are 
the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. 
Blessed are they who keep his testimonies and that seek 
him with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity. 
They walk in his ways." Does he here mean to include a 
part only of those ways ? In another place, he assures us, 
" The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous alto- 
gether ; more to be desired are they than gold, yea, than 
much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honey- 
comb ; moreover, by them is thy servant warned, and in 
keeping of them there is great reward." Can ye say, that 
he was ever deeply mortified by the circumstance of being 
compelled to descend from his throne to perform all the 
minutiae of the Jewish ritual, assigned him to do ? Listen 
to his own fervid prayer ; " Oh that my ways were directed 
to keep thy statutes. Then shall I not be ashamed, when 
I have respect unto all thy commandments." Ye see there- 
fore, brethren, in what his spirituality consisted ; what it 
taught him to believe was essential to the character of an 



SERMON VI. 



67 



Israelite indeed. And from his age to that of Immanuel, 
all the godly entertained no other religion. So far were 
they from reviling externals, that, when eight days were 
accomplished, the infant Jesus was circumcised ; and in due 
time, Mary, his mother, for her purification, " offered a 
sacrifice, according to that which is said in the law of the 
Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons." 

Dreadful then, brethren, must be the infatuation, which 
still clings to the idea, that christians are at liberty to waive 
all respect to the little things of Christianity, no matter if 
they do come, in the shape of edicts from the court of 
heaven. Though long since repealed by the competent 
authority, the multitude of minor ceremonies, to be impli- 
citly observed in the Jewish economy, speak volumes in be- 
half of a rigid construction of every gospel command. 
And what the analogy of faith so clearly indicates, the 
evangelical record no less clearly sustains. No quarter 
does it give to little sins ; no license for the infraction of the 
least commandment. 

Do you talk to me of the greater spirituality of our re- 
ligion, as if this were to be construed into a virtual per- 
mission to pour contempt upon visible institutions ? Far 
different as read by me, is the lesson inculcated in holy ora- 
cles. According to the apostle, Paul, " we ought to give the 
more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest 
at any time we should let them slip. For if the word 
spoken by angels was .steadfast, and every transgression and 
disobedience received a just recompense of reward ; How 
shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at 
the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirm- 
ed unto us by them that heard him ?" Are ye inclined to 
speculate upon the nature and subjects of " the word spoken 
by angels," as if it might not relate to the Hebrew dispen- 
sation? The epistle, in which the passage occurs, is that 
addressed to the Hebrews, and elsewhere contains the 
equivalent declaration ; " See that ye refuse not him that 
speaketh : For if they escaped not who refused him that 
spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we 
turn away from him that speaketh from heaven." Are 
ye still in doubt as to the meaning of " the recompense 
of reward," which " they escaped not," because the di- 
vine oath, " so I sware in my wrath, they shall not 



'SERMON VI. 



enter into my rest," is, by the context, apparently limited 
to the land of Judea ? The same apostle goes on to re- 
solve you that doubt. He advises the Jews, that their 
fathers " could not enter in because of unbelief." He 
urges them to " fear, lest a promise being left us of enter- 
ing into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of 
it He thus plainly refers it to the heavenly Canaan ; 
" For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased 
from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour 
therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the 
same example of unbelief/' And thus it is that the spir- 
ituality of the gospel is magnified. It does not diminish, 
it increases the responsibility of christians. It does not 
lighten, it makes the more onerous the obligation to gos- 
pel obedience. 

I pass then to the consideration of the very scripture, 
adverted to in the beginning of this discourse, and per- 
petually misapplied by our brethren of the different de- 
nominations ; " Wo unto you scribes and pharisees, hy- 
pocrites ! For ye pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cumin, 
and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, jndg- 
ment, mercy, and faith ; these ought ye to have done, and 
not to leave the other undone." Nor could any thing 
be more perfectly in accordance with the doctrine, which 
I am endeavouring to maintain. Frequently, brethren, 
have ye heard the passage mutilated in such form and 
manner as to convey the impression, that it was really 
sinful to attend to any thing save the weightier matters. 
But the actual truth lies within the compass of a nut shell, 
and like its kernel is easily extracted. Judgment, mercy, 
and faith, are indeed highly commended. And what be- 
liever is there, who shall dare to speak disparagingly of 
either ? Who shall dare to refuse them, with the love of 
God, as it is in the parallel verse in saint Luke, the most 
conspicuous place, in the brilliant constellation of christi- 
an grace and truth ? They only, who are entirely reck- 
less of the wo, so evidently denounced against their omis- 
sion, by our Saviour, Christ. But at the same time, not 
one syllable does be utter against the less weighty mat- 
ters. He does not strike out mint, anise, and cumin 
from the tithe paying list. He does not even commute 
them, for the holiest exhibitions of judgment, mercy, and 



SERMON VI, 



m 



faith. Both the weightier and the lighter were exacted in 
the law, and both were exacted by him. Ye who pride 
yourselves upon the one and contemn the other, in their 
application to christian doctrine and practice, do ye ever 
hereafter in quoting both, remember to supply the con- 
text, " These ought ye to have done, and not to leave 
the other undone." Though it may overturn a favourite 
theory, it is nevertheless the saying of Jesus ; it is part 
and parcel of the word of God, and cannot be gainsay ed 
without everlasting detriment to the' soul. 

To sustain me in these views, I next appeal to the testi- 
mony of James ; " Whosoever shall keep the whole law, 
and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." Not how- 
ever that a liar must necessarily be so guilty of murder as 
to have taken away the life of a fellow being. For this 
would be at war with the very statement of keeping the 
whole law and offending only in one point. But the apos- 
tle himself, in the very next verse, hath given an illustra- 
tion, which fully explains his meaning. " For he that said, 
Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now, if 
thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become 
a transgressor of the law." Though composed of partic- 
ulars, the law therefore is evidently regarded by him as a 
unit, in the religious application of the term ; and to be 
guilty of violating one of its provisions is to be guilty of 
all, because the authority of the lawgiver is as much re- 
belled against in the one case as it would be in the other. 
Though crime be added to crime, it is disobedience still, 
and however aggravated, nothing more. Though ye 
were to take up arms against your country, with the 
avowed object of nullifying one only of its numerous laws, 
yet is it certain, that the act would cause you to be de- 
nounced as traitors and rebels, with as much propriety, as 
if ye had boldly unfurled your standard and bravely fought 
to destroy the whole. Little sinners are therefore to take 
heed, lest in this sense they be guilty of violating all that 
the gospel enjoins. It is no less a unit than the law, and 
as we have already seen, its sanctions are even more severe 
and uncompromising. If there be any fallacy in such par- 
aphrase as this, I have not the sagacity to detect it: 
Whosoever shall obey the whole gospel, and yet offend in 
one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, " repent and 
6* 



70 



SERMON Via 



believe the gospel," said also, "be baptized every one of 
you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." 
Now therefore, if thou dost repent and believe, yet if thou 
wilt not be baptized, thou art become a transgressor of the 
gospel. 

But one of the strongest passages to the same purport 
still remains unnoticed. It is in the celebrated sermon 
upon the mount. Jesus said, <: Think not that I am come 
to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to 
destroy but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven 
and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass 
from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore 
shall break one of these least commandments, and shall 
teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of 
heaven ; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same 
shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say 
unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the 
righteousness of the scribes and pharisees, ye shall in no 
case enter into the kingdom of heaven." I can conceive 
of nothing, brethren, more exclusive than this. If ye think 
me to have been too rigid in the interpretation of the Mosa- 
ick law, moral and ceremonial, What must ye think of him. 
who affirms, that to the close of time, " till heaven and earth 
pass ; one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the 
law, till all be fulfilled ?" If ye think me to have " strained 
at a gnat" in enforcing little things, What must ye think 
of him, whose declaration is, " Whosoever therefore shall 
break one of these least commandments, and shall teach 
men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of 
heaven ?" 

Not that we are to regard him, as ultimately allowed an 
inferiour station, in the mansions of glory. A hasty glance 
may be a poor apology for arriving at a conclusion, so lame 
and untenable. But this would be no punishment at all. 
The passage means no such thing. It is altogether of an- 
other complexion. To comprehend it aright, I must 
remind you, that the heavenly host are spectators of the 
incidents of this life, and take the most lively interest in 
whatever relates to our religious concerns. These words 
fell from the lips of Jesus ; " I say unto you, that likewise 
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more 
than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no< 



SERMON VI. 



71 



repentance." And precisely thus as to the least of the / 
commandments. Christ is speaking of the living, who can 
obey, or disobey, not of the dead, whose probation is over. 
And do they keep them ? His statement is, that by such 
as are then in the kingdom of heaven, they shall be called 
great. Do they break one of them? The same holy 
angels are represented to be calling them the least ; not the 
least in heaven, but the least here below ; in other words, 
persons whose sins must be repented of, or they can have 
no part in the felicity, which shall hereafter rejoice the souls 
of the righteous. Some persons indeed may fancy, that 
by the kingdom of heaven, nothing more is meant than the 
church of Christ, whose members may apply the epithets 
great and least to their fellow members, as the respective 
cases would warrant. But, as ye will easily perceive, the 
last verse, in the quotation given, entirely vitiates such 
explanation as this, and settles the true meaning beyond all 
reasonable controversy ; since it is introduced as a direct 
inference from the preceding premises : " For I say unto 
you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the right- 
eousness of the scribes and pharisees, ye shall in no case 
enter into the kingdom of heaven." 

And will ye still endeavour first to legalize the doctrine, 
and afterwards, by the spiritualizing process, fritter it down 
to nothing applicable to the christian state 1 I have stili 
reserved enough, wherewith to expose the weakness of 
the plea, in those memorable words of Paul, " We know, 
that the law is spiritual ; but I am carnal, sold under sin. 
For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that 
do I not ; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that 
which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good." 
And besides this, it is evident that our Saviour adopts the 
whole passage, as we adopt a text, and, by a variety of 
illustrations, immediately succeeding, proceeds to incorpo- 
rate its principle, in a yet more rigorous form, into the 
gospel economy. If circumcisio . 4 hen was binding upon 
the Jew ; if the levitical priesthood als "> was binding, can 
ye say, that baptism and the christian hierarchy are not 
binding now ? Admit that they are little things. They 
are not less than the types. The shadow does not outvie 
the substance. I long to have you put a finger upon that 
spot in the new testament, which makes the gospel less 



72 



SERMON VI. 



obligatory than the law. For it does seem to me a very 
strange way of showing our love to Jesus, to be very 
anxious to prove, that any one of his commands may be 
broken with perfect impunity. His own doctrine certainly 
was widely variant. " If a man love me, he will keep my 
words ; and my Father will love him, and we will come 
unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth 
me not keepeth not my sayings." 

Suppose then, brethren, that ye were to live as Jesus 
lived ; his rule was this ; " That the world may know that 
I love the Father," " as the Father gave me commandment, 
even so I do." Suppose that ye were to estimate your 
spiritual growth by the scale he presents ; it is this ; " Man 
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word, that pro- 
ceedeth out of the mouth of God." Suppose that ye are 
ministers among some of the dissenting denominations, on 
which of the sayings of Christ will ye shape your conduct ? 
Will ye proudly contemn the admonition, " Whosoever 
therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and 
shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the king- 
dom of heaven ?" Or will ye rather reverence the alter- 
native, " whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall 
be called great in the kingdom of heaven ?" Pause ye, 
brethren, and take heed that your practice be in good keep- 
ing with the only reply worthy of a christian. My author- 
ity, for teaching the least as well as the greatest com- 
mandment, concludes with one of the most encouraging 
promises to the ministering servants of the Lord, and, in 
my humble sphere, I have not the wish nor the courage 
to disobey it ; " Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, 
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost ; teaching them to observe all things 
whatsoever I have commanded you : and lo ! I am with 
you always even unto the end of the world." Mark those 
words, " teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I 
have commanded you." They are exceeding broad. They 
contain, what is worth all other philosophy, the true philo- 
sophy of religion. " This," and this alone, " is life eternal, 
that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus 
Christ, whom thou hast sent." Amen. 



SERMON VII. 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

for zion's sake will i not hold my peace, and fok 
Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BU11NETH. 

To fortify the views already submitted upon the necessi- 
ty of keeping the divine commands, I have thought it advi- 
sable to adduce the language of the gospel itself, in relation 
to its sacramental institutions. But before I commence, 
allow me to exhibit a memorable specimen of the contra- 
diction of sinners. Speak to them, at one time, of the ab- 
solute necessity of honouring all holy ordinances, and they 
w T ill laugh in your face as a formalist ; they will not hesi- 
tate to denounce you as a mere legal declaimer. It can be 
easily perceived, that the Syrian leper did not speak more 
contemptuously of the prophet's direction to dip himself 
seven times in Jordan, than they think of the few external 
rites, which the wisdom of God has enjoined upon the 
christian's observance. 

And yet, strange to tell, it often coincides with the feel- 
ings of the very same individuals to occupy an entirely 
variant attitude, and resort to widely variant language. 
For have you urged upon them, in the words of scripture, 
their obligation to be baptized and to partake of the Lord's 
supper? With thoughtless inconsistency, they excuse 
themselves upon the ground, that nothing can be more 
solemn and awfully reverend, than the identical institutions 
they had just decried, as too formal and superfluous. In 
one frame of mind, they depreciate ; in another, they mag- 
nify, them. At one moment, they are too trifling to waste 
a thought upon ; at the next, they are too sacred to be used. 



74 



SERMON VII. 



If others deem it expedient to seek a blessing from the hand 
of the Lord, as he hath ordained, they scout the emblem- 
atick water, and bread, and wine, as if it were drivelling 
superstition to entertain them. If they are reminded of 
their own duty, they directly plead their unwcrthiness and 
turn their backs upon the eucharist especially, precisely as 
if they had assented to the Roman faith, and it were actu- 
ally converted into a god. 

These things however, brethren, ought not so to be. On 
the one hand, we ought not to undervalue what God him- 
self hath pronounced to be good. On the other, we must 
not so misunderstand divine institutions, intended to refresh 
the souls of men, as though the angels alone could be meet 
partakers of their symbolick virtue. My object it will be 
to vindicate them from every attack. Nor have I a parti- 
cle of doubt as to the principle, upon which they are to be 
embraced. I know of no other than that which lifts up 
the heart with the hands in prayer to God, and that causes 
us to look unto Jesus, that we may be saved. Prayer 
would be worthless, looking unto Jesus would be worthless 
had not the Almighty published his will, that thus it shall 
be. But having published, it is our province to listen and 
our imperative duty to obey. In no othf r aspect have the 
sacraments the slightest efficacy, or the faintest shadow of 
authority. 

Are they then commanded ? Is this the record borne 
in the volume of inspiration ? Already have I recited the 
direction of Jesus to his apostles, to " teach all nations, 
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost." And this very direction, making 
it their duty to baptize all nations, necessarily involves a 
command upon those nations to be baptized. Abraham, 
as ye have seen, was ordered to sacrifice his only son Isaac, 
and it would be absurd to contend, that the son was not 
virtually ordered to yield himself a willing victim upon the 
altar, his father built. 

But it is not necessary to rest upon implication alone. 
The ensuing' words • are plain and authoritative as this, 
" teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have 
commanded you." All nations are therefore required to 
be baptized, to whom the gospel is preached. And the 
memorial of Christ's blessed death and cruel sufferings, 



SERMON VII. 



75 



usually called the Lord's supper, must necessarily be re- 
garded in the same light. This divine Being had previ- 
ously enjoined it upon his apostles, in the well known and 
dying declaration, " This do in remembrance of me." 
And now does he renewedly enforce it upon their atten- 
tion : Most solemnly are they directed to instruct the 
nations in all things whatsoever he had commanded them, 
in external actions as well as internal graces ; in positive 
institutions no less than devout affections and benevolent 
feelings. The passage will bear no other construction. 
If I insist, that ye must believe and repent, in order to be 
saved, it has before been clearly proved to rest upon the 
solitary basis, such is the divine decree. And should I 
have the folly, in the same breath, to maintain that the 
two sacraments are not essential to salvation, where they 
may be had, the basis in question would be entirely sub- 
verted, because they are as rigidly commanded as faith in 
Christ, or repentance from dead works to serve the living 
God. 

Nor to the force of this reasoning can I admit of there 
being a single valid objection. But as human prejudices 
are strongly enlisted under the banners of another school 
of divinity, I must more minutely inquire into the degree 
of authority and prominence of station, given, in the scrip- 
tures of the new testament, to the sacrament of baptism 
in particular, since it is the most frequently brought to 
view, though no one will pretend, that it is more solemn 
or obligatory than the eucharistick sacrifice. As a chris- 
tian rite, the account of its first institution is before you. 
It was after the resurrection of Christ from the dead. It 
is contained in what is universally admitted to be his grand 
commission to the apostles to preach the gospel. And is 
all this insufficient to substantiate its indispensable value ? 
Let it be had in remembrance, as a most remarkable fact, 
that it is the only duty specifically mentioned in that com- 
mission, all others being included in its terms of general 
import. They were to baptize all nations, and teach them 
to observe all things. Am I then a formalist for insisting 
upon the necessity of holy baptism 1 So must Jesus have 
been the greatest of formalists, in making an external 
ceremony so prominent, in the instruction, thus solemnly 
delivered to the intimate companions of his life, and the 



76 



SERMON VII. 



chosen evangelists, to whom was committed the ministry 
of reconciliation. Faith is not specified, nor repentance, 
nor prayer, nor any other grace. Baptism stands alone. 
Not that it really takes precedence of ah duties in point 
of importance ; but probably for the very reason, that it 
is a little thing to the eye, and on this account the more 
liable to be discarded, and even scorned, in the pride and 
the self sufficiency of human wisdom. 

Such however was not the course pursued by the apos- 
tles. They better understood their Master ; and from the 
record of their proceedings, I have it in my power to ex- 
tract sufficient to send the despiser of little things to the 
closet, where he may confess his sins, and should earnestly 
plead for pardon and forgiveness. In the first sermon de- 
livered by them, after having been endued with power 
from on high, in answer to the inquiry of those who were 
pricked at the heart, and exclaimed, " Men and brethren, 
what shall we do V Peter instantly replied ; " Repent 
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus 
Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the 
gift of the Holy Ghost." On implication therefore we 
need not rely. Here is the direct unequivocal command, 
not only to repent, but to be baptized for. the remission of 
sins ? And how was that command received ? Were 
there scorners then as there are scorners now ? Not a 
single voice is reported to have uttered the cry of formali- 
ty ; not one to have vehemently called for the weightier 
matters to be repeated, in preference to a paltry ceremony. 
On the contrary, " they that gladly received his word were 
baptized, and the same day there were added unto them 
about three thousand souls." 

Nor is this the only instance of an explicit command to 
the same effect. When the gentile centurion and his 
friends believed in Christ, when the gift of the Holy Ghost 
was poured out upon them, when they spake with tongues 
and magnified God, Peter's thoughts were at once directed 
to what is npw branded as formality. Hear him, O ye 
of little faith, wheresoever ye are ; and brand no more. 
" Can any man forbid water, that these should not be bap- 
tized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we ? 
And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the 
Lord." Even in the case of the great apostle, who was 



SERMON VII. 



71 



miraculously converted on his way to Damascus, even he, 
to have remission of sins, must pass through the laver of 
regeneration. At first, there is some backwardness on his 
part, perhaps some Jewish prejudice yet lingered in his 
mind, in favour of circumcision. But when Ananias both 
expostulated and commanded, saying, " Why tarriest thou ? 
Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling 
on the name of the Lord," backwardness and prejudice, if 
they had an existence, existed no more. " Immediately 
there fell from his eyes as it had been scales, and he re- 
ceived sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized." 
Would to God, that all similar scales, blinding the vision in 
our visionary age, w ere as effectually removed ! Obedi- 
ence would not then be limited to such requisitions as a 
fallible judgment might deem essential. It would embrace 
all that Christ enjoined. The apostolick doctrine would 
be fully recognised, " Be ye doers of the word, and not 
hearers only, deceiving your own selves." There would 
be no cavillers against little things, to be thus severely re- 
buked for their presumption, in going behind the divine 
decree, to adopt or reject it, as they may think expedient ; 
" If thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but 
a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and 
to destroy." 

In addition to the original command of Christ to bap- 
tize, I have therefore selected three instances, in which it 
was plainly reiterated on the part of his apostles. And 
wherever persons professed belief in Jesus, this now light- 
ly esteemed sacrament was immediately celebrated. When 
the Samaritans, " believed Philip, preaching the things con- 
cerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, 
they were baptized, both men and women." He delayed 
not in their case, nor in that of the eunuch, nor even in 
that of Simon Magus, when he also believed, though Peter 
afterwards detected his still uncircumcised spirit ; " Thy 
heart is not right in the sight of God." " I perceive that 
thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity." 
And the same ordinance took place when the Lord " open- 
ed the heart" of Lydia : " She was baptized and her house- 
hold:" So was the jailer of Philippi, "he and all his 
straightway." When Paul preached the gospel at Corinth, 
" many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were 

7 



SERMON 



VII. 



baptized." When he was at Ephesus, John's disciples 
barely heard him preach a few words concerning Christ, 
and were forthwith " baptized in the name of the Lord 
Jesus." 

Who then can for a moment doubt but that baptism 
was brought forward in a most prominent manner by the 
very men, who, instead of relying upon human authority, 
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost? I have 
given the most interesting passages, in the Acts, relating to 
the conversion of sinners; and, in every case, baptism 
takes the rank assigned to it by Paul, when he enume- 
rates it with " the first principles of the oracles oi God." 
In the whole company of the faithful, I find not a dissen- 
tient voice. The preachers themselves were not afraid of 
being termed legalists. The people never stopped to in- 
quire what connexion there was- between an outward sign 
and an inward grace. It was enough for them, that the 
sacrament was ordained of God. This alone commended 
it to their reception, and without a single refusal, " they 
that gladly received his word were baptized," on the very 
day obedience was exacted, According to Paul, " by one 
Spirit are we all baptized into one body." 

Something of the kind, I wish to see prevailing at the 
existing period. What the apostles preached can be 
preached by the present heralds of the cross, without detri- 
ment to the truth as it is in Jesus, and without a prejudi- 
cial tendenc}^ in the cure of souls. What the first hearers 
of the gospel did, on the spur of the occasion, as soon as 
the word fell with power upon their consciences, should be 
imitated by us, and would produce far better results, than 
those wretched diatribes against outward ordinances, which 
now mar the face of Christendom, and are the instrumental 
causes of myriads falling on the right hand and on the left, 
deceived as to the very elements of the christian faith, led 
by the blind, and perishing for lack of knowledge. 

In adverting then, brethren, to the fact, that in obedi- 
ence to the command of Christ, the apostles broached the 
doctrine of baptism in their first discourses, it is natural for 
me to look around for the cause of that apathy upon the 
subject, which now very generally prevails. And this is 
easily traced to an errour, that in our country has grown 
into the similitude and the authority of a proverb. Almost 



SERMON VII. 



79 



every body will tell you, that baptism is not a saving ordi- 
nance. And against this tradition of men, making void the 
commandment of God, it is as much as any man's reputation 
is worth to bear full and scriptural testimony. ; ' With me," 
however, as Paul says, " it is a very small thing that I should 
be judged of you, or of man's judgment." I take all risks. 
Misrepresentation and calumny do not move me. The 
bible furnishes- a policy, which, in case of temporal loss, 
will not be valueless, owing to the bankruptcy of its au- 
thor. 

But what is a saving ordinance? Does it convey the 
idea of having such virtue belonging to it, that whoever 
receives it must necessarily be saved ? Is it, in other 
words, an infallible passport to the heavenly world ? I can 
conceive of no greater fully than this. It is so infinitely 
ridiculous, as to make it absolutely mortifying to be obliged 
to express the melancholy foreboding, that millions upon 
millions of the baptized will never sing the song of tri- 
umph and of joy, in the presence of God. No such insan- 
ity is mine. The real insanity consists in supposing it to 
be the attribute of a saving ordinance, that all who partake 
of it 'must, from that very circumstance, be entitled to lay 
hold on eternal life. But there is the bible. Can you say 
that it is not a saving bible, when it is written, " receive 
with meekness the ingrafted word, which is able to save 
your souls ?" There is Jesus. Can you deny that he is a 
Saviour, when such is the import of his name, and he is 
expressly called, "the Saviour, of the world?" No true 
christian will hesitate to reply, It is a saving bible. He is 
a Saviour. Multitudes on multitudes will indeed read that 
bible and hear of that Saviour, who will not be saved. 
But this no more destroys the salvable properties of either, 
no more supersedes the necessity of our repairing to both, 
if we would be saved, than, the inefficacy of medicine in 
some cases destroys its efficacy in all, or supersedes the 
necessity of the dangerously sick consenting to use it, if 
they would recover their health. 

And precisely thus with baptism, it is a saving ordinance, 
and not the less so because numbers of its recipients will not 
work out their salvation with fear and trembling. It is 
saving in the same sense in which faith and repentance 
and all graces are saving, because it is commanded and 



80 



SERMON VII. 



every command must be obeyed. And do ye still refuse 
to employ the epithet ? Ye are far more scrupulous than 
Paul, whose words are these, " After that the kindness 
and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not 
by works of righteousness which we have done, but ac- 
cording to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of re- 
generation and the renewing of the Holy Ghost." Ye 
must be compelled to look with great suspicion upon 
the orthodoxy of Peter, who, when speaking of the ark, 
" wherein few, that is eight souls, were saved by water," 
has the confidence to assert, " The like figure whereun- 
to even baptism doth also now save us, not the putting 
away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good 
conscience toward God, by the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ from the dead." Not the outward ceremony, but 
the answer of a good conscience, which could not be had 
without obedience ; which revolts at the thought of diso- 
beying God, though it be in the seemingly trivial rite of 
baptism. 

Yes, brethren, the more ye examine the doctrine of these 
discourses the more ye will be satisfied, that all real reli- 
gion has its origin and its end in the principle of doing the 
will of God. " Faith without works is dead." " Love" 
itself 44 is the fulfilling of the law'." In relation to the Jew- 
ish rite to which baptism succeeds, the apostle says, " Cir- 
cumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but the 
keeping of the commandments of God." And again, " Cir- 
cumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law, but if thou 
be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncir- 
cumcision." On the strength of these authorities, I am 
therefore justified in maintaining, first, that baptism would 
be nothing and the not being baptized, were it not for the 
necessity of keeping the commandments ; and secondly, 
that baptism doth verily profit, is actualty saving, provi- 
ded all the other saving things of the gospel be kept, but if 
they are broken, it becomes as though it had never been, 
or, worse than this, it ministers to a greater condemnation. 

The value and necessity of the ordinance may be fur- 
ther proved by the ever to be remembered commission of 
Jesus, as it appears in the gospel of Mark, " Go ye into 
all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 
He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved : but he 



SERMON VII. 



01 



that believeth not snail be damned." Here then the pro- 
mise of salvation is only made to such as believe the gos- 
pel and are baptized in the name of Jesus. The two acts 
are inseparably connected together. Ye have no more 
right to draw your pen through the one than the other. 
I know very well, that great stress has been laid upon the 
fact, that the succeeding clause is silent on the subject of 
not being baptized. And no wonder, that this circum- 
stance should have great weight, at a period, when there 
are so many to profess faith in Christ, who have never 
been outwardly " cleansed by the washing of water." But 
let me tell you, brethren, no anomalies of this kind ex- 
isted in the apostolick age. As ye have seen, every one 
who believed was immediately baptized. Not an instance 
to the contrary can be produced, subsequent to the com- 
mission being given, it followed the light of faith, as cer- 
tainly as the voice of the thunder now follows the light of 
the electrick fluid. And the consequence is, that it would 
have been superfluous to have said, " he that believeth not" 
and is not baptized " shall be damned." Superfluous, be- 
cause the not believing as clearly indicated the fact of not 
being baptized, as though the words had been employed, 
and because no professed unbeliever was allowed to be 
the subject of baptism. 

Nor must I forget to put you in mind, that the declara- 
tion of Christ in another place is even more decided and 
peremptory. I allude to his conversation with Nicode- 
mus. " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be 
born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the 
kingdom of God." Some indeed have pretended, that only 
an entrance into the church of Christ is here interdict- 
ed. But to this interpretation, the objection is fatal, that it 
makes church membership conclusive evidence of being 
born of the Spirit, when, without adverting to what our 
own eyes may see, we know that Ananias and Sapphira 
were members of the holy church universal, who were so 
far from being spiritually born again, that they were sud- 
denly bereft of life, because they "lied to the Holy Ghost," 
and " agreed together to tempt the Spirit of God." The 
opinion of bishop Beveridge, renowned alike for learning 
and for piety, cannot therefore be affected by this shallow 
misconception. " He that believeth and is baptized shall 



82 



SERMON VII. 



be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned ;' 
where we see that He, by whom alone it is possible for 
any man to be saved, makes baptism necessary to salvation 
a-s well as faith. He saith indeed, ' he that believeth not 
shall be damned ;' but he doth not say, he that believeth 
shall be saved, whether he be baptized or no : But ' he 
that believeth and is baptized,' as all to be sure are, or de- 
sire to be, who truly believe in him. For all, who truly 
believe in Christ for their salvation, must believe what he 
hath said to be true, and accordingly do whatsoever he re- 
quires, in order to it. But he requires all, that would be 
saved by him, to be first baptized into him, and as plain- 
ly asserts in my text, ' except a man be born of water and 
of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God ;' 
and therefore, it is in vain to expect it." 

There is besides this incontrovertible proof in the scrip- 
tures, that baptism is one of the marks, by which we are 
to test the validity of the new birth. Speaking of Jesus, 
the apostle says, " If ye know, that he is righteous, ye 
know that every one that doth righteousness is born of 
him." And what is righteousness ? Is this term inappli- 
cable to the reception of the sacrament under review ? 
Christ himself shall answer, who came " from Galilee to 
Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John for- 
bade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee ; and 
comest thou to me ? And Jesus answering, said unto him, 
Suffer it to be so now ; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all 
righteousness. Then he suffered him." Water baptism is 
therefore a part of righteousness. On this ground, was it 
received by our Saviour Christ. As one " of the princi- 
ples of the doctrine of Christ," the apostle, as ye perceive, 
makes it a constituent feature of the new birth. And do 
ye still disparage so insignificant a criterion of being right- 
eous, though it became the Lord Jesus to fulfil it 1 Let 
me affectionately counsel you to remember the words of 
John, " all unrighteousness is sin." Do any of you entire- 
ly renounce its use, relying altogether upon internal mani- 
festations of the Spirit, guiding you to more interesting 
views of divine truth ? I cannot be of your opinion nor 
of your party. I rather bow to the admonition of Paul ; 
" the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all 
ungodliness and unrighteousnes of men, who hold the truth 



SERMON VII. 



83 



in unrighteousness." If he then is to be credited, it is not 
the most orthodox faith that will avail, when it is associa- 
ted with the state of disobedience to the holy law of God. 
Men may theorize, but he exacts unqualified obedience. 
The refusal publickly to confess the Lord Jesus, through the 
only instituted channel, the only initiatory rite, is not to be 
passed off, as an errour of mere inadvertence, when this is 
the counsel of the Redeemer himself ; " Whosoever there- 
fore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also be- 
fore my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall 
deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father 
which is in heaven." 

Where indeed, brethren, can you point me to that part 
of the inspired records of the apostolick church, in which 
persons unbaptized, or refusing to be baptized, have been 
spoken of, as if they were born again ? There was no " gift 
of the Holy Ghost," in the case of the converts to the first 
sermon of Peter, until after they were baptized. They of 
Samaria, who " believed Philip preaching the things con- 
cerning the kingdom of God," were in the same predica- 
ment. They did not even receive the Holy Ghost until 
the apostles came and laid hands upon them. "As yet he 
was fallen upon none of them ; only they were baptized 
in the name of the Lord Jesus." And then as to the dis- 
ciples at Ephesus, they had " not so much as heard whether 
there were a Holy Ghost," until at the instance of Paul, 
" they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And 
when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost 
came on them." Am I not right therefore in claiming that the 
inward and spiritual gift must be preceded by the outward 
and visible sign, where there is no insurmountable obsta- 
cle to its reception ? If ye direct me to the case of Paul 
himself, I meet you with the admonition of Ananias, al- 
ready quoted ; "Arise and be baptized and wash away thy 
sins f showing very clearly, that he was not, at that time, 
so cleansed from all unrighteousness as to " be born of wa- 
ter and of the Spirit." 

If ye appeal, as a last resort, to the question of Peter, 
concerning the centurion and they that were with him ; 
" Can any man forbid water, that these should not be bap- 
tized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we 
I am ready to admit, that, bereft of the context and other 



84 



SERMON VII. 



portions of the gospel, the passage would be conclusive 
against my views. But read the second chapter of the 
Acts, and ye will find, that the Holy Ghost must first be 
poured out upon the Jews, as a nation, before they could 
individually be baptized for the remission of sins. Read 
the whole of the tenth chapter, and ye will discover a sec- 
ond edition of the day of pentecost, commemorating the 
admission of the gentiles to the like privileges with the 
Jews. The preparatory steps were had with Cornelius, 
who was directed by an angel to send for Peter. The in- 
termediate parts are sustained by the apostle, who, enlight- 
ened by a vision, opens the gospel to the centurion's house- 
hold, saying among other things, " Of a truth I perceive 
that God is no respecter of persons ; but in every nation, 
he that feareth him and worketh righteousness, is accepted 
of him." After which, he distinctly preached Jesus, declar- 
ing " that through his name, whosoever believeth in him 
shall receive remission of sins." The concluding act was 
the work of the Spirit ; " While Peter yet spake these 
words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the 
word. And they of the circumcision which believed were 
astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on 
the gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost ; 
for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify 
God." So true it is, therefore, that the question* of Peter 
does not militate against the position taken by me. There 
was to be a miraculous descent of the Holy Ghost, in the 
case of the gentiles as well as the Jews. Before that day 
the gospel was . not announced to them, and before the oc- 
currences of that day they could not be baptized. 

In the succeeding chapter, this idea is, if possible, yet 
more clearly indited. The object of the apostle was to 
justify his procesdings at Cesarea, from the .imputation 
cast upon them by his countrymen. " They that were of 
the circumcision contended with him, saying, Thou went; 
est in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them. But 
Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and ex- 
pounded it by order unto them." He first narrated the 
main features of the vision, with the direction given him 
by the Spirit. He then repeated the centurion's address, 
in behalf of himself and friends, and concluded in this man- 
ner ; " As I began to speak, the Holy Ghost Icll on them, 



SERMON VII. 



85 



as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word 
of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with 
water ; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. 
Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did 
unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was 
I that 1 could withstand God ?" In other words, What 
was I that I should refuse to demand, " Can any man for- 
bid water, that these should not be baptized, which have 
received the Holy Ghost as well as we?" What was I that 
I should refrain from " commanding them to be baptized, in 
the name of the Lord ?" The justification was triumphant, 
was irresistible. " When they heard these things, they 
held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath 
God also to the gentiles granted repentance unto life." 

Briefly then, brethren, have I succeeded in setting forth 
the necessity of holy baptism, as one of the prerequisites for 
the kingdom of heaven. It is a little thing, but its little- 
ness does not render nugatory the . divine will. Is the 
church then, with its ministry, to be cast off at pleasure, 
and without incurring the slightest peril, provided it pro- 
ceeds from the same august source ? This is the question 
for you to decide. My province it is to put you in pos- 
session of all the facts necessary to arrive at a right de- 
cision. In the meantime, we cannot too heartily pray, 
that Almighty God would so " direct, sanctify, and govern 
both our hearts and bodies, in the ways of his laws and in 
the works of his commandments, that, through his most 
mighty protection, both here and ever, we may be pre- 
served in body and soul, through our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ." Amen. 



SERMON VIII. 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

for zion's sake will i not hold my peace, and for 
Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the 
salvation thereof as a lamp that surneth. 

In perusing the preceding pages, your minds, brethren, 
I venture to" suggest, have frequently adverted to the sub- 
ject, to which a serious attention is now earnestly solicited. 
With those having access to the word of life, the doctrine 
has become more current than some among you would 
desire, that all, which is requisite to ensure the approba- 
tion of God, is sincerity in the faith they embrace, follow- 
ed up in practice, by conformity to the duties indicated by 
that faith. If the Most High, for instance, require obedi- 
ence in any one particular, yet is it boldly announced, that 
non-obedience will be pardoned, provided the persons 
commanded to obey, sincerely believe the particular in 
question is not required. 

Against the correctness of the position, there are how- 
ever, some very serious objections, which it comes within 
the design of these discourses to lay before you as briefly 
as possible. And first : On the supposition that such the- 
ory be true, it appears very extraordinary, that there is no 
one single passage in the sacred volume, which recognises 
it, which declares in so many or equivalent words, Do this, 
in case ye think it divinely ordained, otherwise ye are entire- 
ly at liberty to refrain from its performance. 

Secondly : The judgment of men is never appealed to, 
on the part of God, for the purpose of determining the 
moral fitness of a duty prescribed, or the moral unfitness 
of an action forbidden. In the old testament, the present- 



SERMON VIII. 



87 



ment is, " Thus saith the Lord." In the new, Jesus speaks 
" with authority, and not as the scribes and pharisees," 
obliged to appeal to a higher tribunal, to set in order elabo- 
rate proofs, or employ inductive reasoning. 

Thirdly : If accountable beings are to be rewarded for 
doing sincerely that which is wrong, no more is promised, 
to those who sincerely perform that which is right : And 
the consequence would be, that there is no real distinction 
created by the divine appointment, between right and 
wrong. 

Fourthly : If a course of honest errour, in relation to 
one set of duties, may be pardoned ; why should it not be 
in relation to another and another, to the end of the com- 
mandments, and so render the whole altogether superero- 
gatory and void, altogether useless as the guide of our 
faith and the manual of our practice ? 

Fifthly : The principle contended for is in fact a virtual 
attack upon the wisdom of God, and is tantamount to some 
such declaration as this ; You designed to give us a per- 
fect rule of faith and practice, but have signally failed in 
revealing your will, so plainly and methodically, as to en- 
able the honest inquirer to perceive your object, and regu- 
late his conduct by the rules laid down for its govern- 
ment. 

Sixthly : The persons who embrace the opinion in re- 
view, do not appear to reflect, that it is utterly at variance 
with what all civilized nations have determined to be just 
and right, pertaining to the laws they have enacted, for 
the preservation of the publick welfare and the prevention 
of crime. Ignorance of the law does not excuse an offen- 
der against its provisions, nor that which is sometimes 
thought less culpable than ignorance, I mean a mistaken 
view of its nature and character. A prisoner at the bar is 
never permitted to justify his malconduct, on the ground of 
having put a wrong construction upon a statute. When 
a verdict is pronounced against him, he cannot successful- 
ly plead in arrest of judgment, the sincerity with which he 
acted contrary to what the judge and jury have decided to be 
the law of the land. There was indeed a mode of inter- 
pretation, which in his misjudging eye appeared to be le- 
gal, but notwithstanding this it was the reverse, and his 



88 



SERMON VIII. 



fellow beings have no hesitation in determining that the 
penalty thereof is death or some minor punishment. Is 
God's law less perfect, less obligatory ? Is the authority of 
the lawgiver to be less regarded ? Can he be set at naught 
with entire impunity, when mere human tribunals exact and 
justly exact unsinning obedience ? Men may indulge in 
such conjectures, while he, who gives them power to con- 
jecture, shall continue the ill requited clemency ; but even 
Balaam was persuaded, that " God is not a man, that he 
should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent," 
that is, change his mind ; even Balaam's logick was better 
than theirs, " Hath he said, and shall he not do it ? Or hath 
he spoken, and shall he not make it good ?" 

I put these questions, brethren, and I assign the above 
abstract reasons, in reply to the doctrine, that sincerity of 
purpose justifies errours in faith and practice, because I 
believe that no misapprehension, on the subject of religion, 
is more prevalent, more unfounded, or more pernicious. 
It completely exonerates from future punishment all those 
heathen, among whom the gospel is preached, if they sin- 
cerely reject Christ as the Saviour of the world, and all 
Mahommedans, all Jews, all infidels, who are perfectly 
persuaded of the truth of their respective creeds. It con- 
verts the bible into a dead letter, and in effect repeals it, 
by authorizing all men to interpret it according to their 
own fancies. If they honestly disbelieve its inspiration, 
as many will tell you they do, this is sufficient to absolve 
them from all guilt. There will be the same result, if they 
honestly reject the doctrines of the supreme divinity of 
Christ ; of our fall in Adam and our redemption in him ; of 
faith, repentance, and obedience ; of a future and everlast- 
ing state of rewards and punishments. In vain, altogeth- 
er in vain, is the admonition twice enforced by the wisest 
among the sons and the daughters of men ; " There is a 
way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof 
are the ways of death." I must however claim the privi- 
lege to believe, that this passage clearly and unequivocally 
demolishes the lax system of theology, which it is the fash- 
ion of the age to uphold. It positively affirms, that the 
way, which only seemeth to be right, is in reality fatally 
wrong. It forcibly guards and warns us against the in- 



SERMON VIII. 



89 



dulgence of so pleasing a delusion ; and apprizes us before- 
hand, that the consequences will be destr active to our fu- 
ture happiness. 

But then I shall be told, that other and abler divines 
would give a different interpretation to these words ; that 
they are susceptible of another meaning, and that this 
meaning is the more gratifying, the more palatable of the 
two. And I agree to it. There is no earthly doubt, but 
that the scriptures may be so explained and perverted, tor- 
tured and metamorphosed, as to speak just that kind of 
language and urge precisely that sort of doctrine, which 
the reader and hearer desire to have them speak and urge. 
If a man set out with the conviction, that Calvinism is true, 
the whole bible in his distorted vision appears, as if it had 
been written for no other purpose than to prove the inspi- 
ration of Calvin's most preposterous system of uncondi- 
tional election and reprobation. If he should run into the 
contrary extreme, and satisfy himself, that all men will final- 
ly be saved, there is not one single text so clearly expres- 
sive of everlasting punishment, but he can transform it 
into a far clearer revelation of everlasting life. 

And the same egregious folly pervades the mind, when- 
ever it is taken captive and enamoured with the idea, that 
sincerity of belief is of itself a principle, which shall justify 
all errours and sanctify all actions. I shall therefore at- 
tempt to explode this dangerous theory, by bringing to 
your recollection a series of passages, which I am confi- 
dent inculcate an entirely different lesson. They will be 
selected in the order in which they occur in the sacred vol- 
ume, and, while they corroborate what has been previous- 
ly written upon the necessity of keeping the command- 
ments, will truly disclose the mind of the Infinite, in the va- 
rious dispensations of grace, which he has submitted to 
direct the understanding and control the actions of his 
creatures. 

1. Before the fall, while abiding -in innocence, as has 
been before stated, " the Lord God commanded the man, 
saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, 
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou 
shalt not eat of it ; for in the day that thou eatest thereof 
thou shalt surely die." But ere long the serpent came, and 
very dexterously resolved all the doubts of the woman, say- 

8 



90 



SERMON VIII. 



ing unto her ; " Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every 
tree of the garden V And on her replying in the affirma- 
tive, without any equivocation, even making the command 
yet broader, " ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch 
it, lest ye die ;" the wily reptile proceeded to the seductive 
falsehood, " Ye shall not surely die : For God doth know, 
that in the day ye eat thereof ; then your eyes shall be 
opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." 
And she believed him. Not dreaming that he was the fa- 
ther of lies, in the simplicity and sincerity of her heart, she 
believed him. The narrative assures us, that " when the 
woman saw that the tree w T as good for food, and that it 
w r as pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make 
one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and 
gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat." 

And what was the result ? This primitive pair were 
created innocent. They had no guile whatever in their 
natuie ; and not knowing evil from good, incapable of 
knowing it, long as the tree remained untasted, they could 
not conceive of guile lurking in the suggestion of the tempt- 
er. They therefore yielded to his counsel, without any 
bad intentions, without so much as one thought of dishon- 
ouring their great Creator. Such intentions, such thoughts 
could only exist after the forbidden fruit was consumed. 
It was then only that " the eyes of them both were open- 
ed." The apostle says, " the serpent beguiled Eve through 
his subtilty ;" and again, " Adam was not deceived ; but the 
woman, being deceived, w T as in the transgression." And 
yet, did this simplicity, this sincerity, this undesigned and 
inconsiderate errour on their part, did this excuse them ? 
Ye know the history. I cannot think it possible, brethren, 
with the present corruption of our nature, for any hu- 
man being to disobey God, with such absence of guile or 
malice prepense, such real honesty of intention. But still he 
manifested his sore displeasure against them. He made 
them subject to both temporal and eternal death. He in- 
cluded their offspring to remotest time, in this sad calami- 
ty ; and would never have been reconciled to the world, 
had not his only begotten and well beloved Son interposed 
in its behalf, and, by the death and sacrifice upon the cross, 
redeemed it from the curse of the violated law ; from the 



SERMON VIII. 



91 



everlasting curse, incurred by the apparently trifling and 
unpremeditated erro-ur of eating the forbidden fruit. 

2. Soon after this melancholy event, Cain, the first born 
son of Adam and a tiller of the ground, in the confident 
belief, that he was performing an acceptable service, 
"brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the 
Lord. And Abel," who was a keeper of sheep, " he also 
brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof, 
And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering-, but 
unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect." Why ? 
The subsequent expostulation with this angry and incensed 
man explains the cause. " And the Lord said unto Cain, 
why art thou wroth ? And why is thy countenance fallen ? 
If thou dost well, shalt thou not be accepted ? And if thou 
dost not well, sin lieth at the door." All which evidently 
implies, that he had not done well in the offering he had 
made ; that the fruits of the ground had never been direct- 
ed to be used in sacrifice ; and that he had no right to ima- 
gine it to be at his own option to substitute them, in place 
of the firstlings e,f the flock, which were doubtless prepar- 
ed by his brother, in strict conformity to the letter of the 
divine command. 

And that I am right in this interpretation is evident from 
the fact, that when the apostle refers to the murder of Abel 
by Cain, he asks the question, " W here fore slew he him V 
and immediately answers it in this manner, " because his 
own works were evil and his brother's righteous." Paul is 
even more explicit than John, enabling us to determine with 
ease the nature of the evil and the righteous works, spoken 
of by the beloved disciple. "By faith, Abel offered unto 
God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain; by which he ob- 
tained witness that he w T as righteous, God testifying of his 
gifts ; and by it, he being dead yet speaketh," yet plainly 
declares unto us, brethren, in relation even to positive in- 
stitutions, that there is no ground whatever for the vain 
imagination, that we can serve God acceptably, in any other 
mode than the mode expressly commanded. 

3. In the sixth chapter of Genesis, it appears, that the 
days of man were materially shortened upon the earth, 
from nearly a thousand to a hundred and twenty years. 
For what reason ? Simply on the ground of disobedience, 
because the descendants of Seth presumed to intermarry 



92 



SERMON VIII. 



with those of Cain. They thought it all right. They per- 
ceived, that the women of another race were just as beau- 
tiful in their sight, as was the fruit of the prohibited tree in 
the eyes of Eve. " The sons of God saw the daughters of 
men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all 
which they chose " But of what avail were their thoughts ? 
What apology did they afford for deviating from the will 
of heaven, for believing that by the lapse of near sixteen 
hundred years, it had grown obsolete ? What if that w T ill 
was even unremembered by them ? For this very inter- 
marrying, and for nothing else recorded in the narrative, 
for this " the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive 
with man, for that he also is flesh." For this, he punished 
them, in a particular the most revolting to their feelings 
and wishes ; he abridged their lives to the term of a hun- 
dred and twenty years, without deigning to remonstrate 
with them, or to accept of what they conceived to be right 
motives, in extenuation of actual transgression. 

4. And the same argument holds equally good, in the 
case of the many millions, who witnessed the building of 
the ark in the days of Noah. They had no confidence in 
this preacher of righteousness, no belief that the earth was 
about to be overwhelmed in a deluge of waters. But not- 
withstanding their unbelief, notwithstanding the sincerity 
with which it was entertained, in due time, those waters 
prevailed exceedingly ; in due time, they went over their 
souls, and all flesh perished from the face of the earth, save 
the heaven befriended few, who, through faith, sought shel- 
ter in the ark, and in its capacious bosom, answering to the 
church of God, rode out uninjured the stormy winds and 
waves. 

5. Similar remarks apply to the transaction narrated in 
the thirty-fourth chapter of Genesis, to the cruel murder of 
Hamor and Shechem, and all the males of their nation, by 
Simeon and Levi. These sons of Jacob had no earthly 
doubt of the propriety of their conduct. They were fully 
persuaded of obtaining the approbation of the Most High. 
But how sorely were they mistaken ! On his dying bed, 
moved by the inspiration of heaven, their good old father 
was compelled to pronounce this severe malediction against 
them : " Simeon and Levi are brethren. Instruments of cru- 
elty are in their habitations. O my soul ! come not thou into 



SERMON VIII. 



93 



their secret ; unto their assembly, mine honour be not thou 
united ! For in their anger, they slew a man ; and in their 
self will they digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger, 
for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will 
divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel." 

6. When the law came by Moses, the fourth command- 
ment was of this nature ; " Remember the sabbath day to 
keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy 
work ; but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy 
God : In it, thou shalt not do any work." And we also, 
brethren, have a sabbath day, the first day of the week, 
and not the seventh, for the reason already assigned. And 
ye know how it is observed ; how many there are who do 
not remember to keep it holy ; how many there are, who, 
I dare say, very honestly think, that God can easily do 
without their worship, or that it is enough to worship him 
in publick once in the da} r , and to spend the remainder in 
their own work, whether it be in sleep, in reading, in do- 
mestick avocations, or in finding their own pleasure in the 
streets, the highways, or the fields. But how was it when 
God himself was the interpreter of his own laws ? I will 
give you as slight a breach of holy time as ye can well con- 
ceive of, one as likely as any other to be honestly indulged, 
and ye may then judge for yourselves. " While the chil- 
dren of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that 
gathered sticks upon the sabbath day." " And the Lord 
said unto Moses, the man shall be surely put to death. All 
the congregation shall stone him with stones without the 
camp. And all the congregation brought him without the 
camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died ; as the Lord 
commanded Moses." 

7. I now come to the case of Korah, Dathan, and Abi- 
ram, priests of the second order in the Jewish church, who, 
with " two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, fa- 
mous in the congregation, men of renown," " gathered 
themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and 
said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the 
congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is 
among them. Wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above 
the congregation of the Lord ?" I need not tell you, breth- 
ren, that in this speech, there appears to have been an 
abundance of sincerity, a perfect conviction of an unjust 

8* 



94 



SERMON VIII. 



usurpation of power, on the part of Moses and the high 
priest, Aaron. Nor is it now necessary to remind you, 
that it is deeply to be feared a similar spirit prevails in 
modern times, although the apostle, Jude, pronounces of cer- 
tain persons of his age, " Wo unto them ! for they have" 
" perished in the gainsaying of Core." - But what said Moses, 
the man of God, in the case under review, and in reference 
to the divine authority of the priesthood ? " Hear, I pray 
you, ye sons of Levi, seemeth it but a small thing unto you, 
that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congre- 
gation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do the ser- 
vice of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before 
the congregation to minister unto them ? And he hath 
brought thee near to him, and all thy brethren, the sons of 
Levi, with thee. And seek ye the priesthood also V What 
was the issue of this very sincere misapprehension of Ko- 
ran and his company ? " The ground clave asunder that 
was under them. And the earth opened her mouth, and 
swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that 
appertained unto Korah, and all their goods." 

8. In the fifteenth chapter of the first book of Samuel, 
there is this remarkable narrative, presented however for 
your consideration in a condensed form. Agag was king 
of Amalek, and the command of God to Saul was, that he 
should " go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that 
they have and spare them not, but slay both man and wo- 
man, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass." 
But the command was only partially obeyed. He " utter- 
ly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword." 
But he " spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the 
oxen, and of the fatlings, and the Jambs, and all that was 
good, and would not utterly destroy them." The intent on 
his part was in conception good. All that he thought " vile 
and refuse" he destroyed. But Agag he spared, and also 
reserved the " best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacri- 
fice unto the Lord ;" which no one will pretend to assert 
was either evil in itself, or any mark of an evil design. 
But again I demand, what were the consequences? 
" Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, 
It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king, for he 
is turned back from following me, and hath not performed 
my commandments." " And Samuel said" unto SauL 



SERMON VIII. 



95 



" Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and 
sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord. Behold, 
to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat 
of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and 
stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou 
hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected 
thee from being king." 

9. The succeeding case is one of the most extraordina- 
ry to be found in the scriptures. The ark of God was not 
to be touched by other than sacerdotal hands. David was 
transporting it to the place where it should be, and two 
persons, not of the priesthood, " Uzzah and Ahio, the sons 
of Abinadab, drave the new cart," in which it was carried. 
" And when they came to Nachor's threshing floor, Uzzah 
put forth his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, 
for the oxen shook it." Can ye conceive, brethren, of a 
more laudable design, of purer intentions, than this man in- 
dulged, proposing as he did to preserve a holy and rever- 
end object from all injury, without the remotest possibility 
of being- influenced bv a sinister motive or of receiving a 
personal benefit ? And yet, " the anger of the Lord was 
kindled against Uzzah. and God smote him there for his 
errour, and there he died, by the ark of God." 

10. I now approach a case even more remarkable than 
the preceding. It is to be found in the thirteenth chapter 
of the first book of Kings, and relates not to an impenitent 
sinner, but to one who is called " a man of God," sent by 
him to execute a particular judgment upon a schismatick 
altar, erected in Bethel. The judgment was so executed, 
the withered arm of Jeroboam, who opposed it, was so 
restored, as to cause this king of Israel to address him 
thus ; " Come home with me and refresh thyself, and I will 
give thee a reward. And the man of God said unto the 
king, if thou wilt give me half thine house,- I will not go 
in with fhee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in 
this place. For so was it charged me bv the word of the 
Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn 
again by the same way that thou earnest. So he went anoth- 
er way and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel." 
Here then was an honest, faithful determination to dis- 
charge his duty, and by no promises of reward to be sway- 
ed from it. But afterwards, on his homeward journey, an 



96 



SERMON VIII. 



old prophet, who had heard of these circumstances and 
immediately set off in pursuit, overtook him, and said, " Art 
thou the man of God that earnest from Judah ? And he 
said, I am. Then he said unto him, Come home with me 
and eat bread. And he said, I may not return with thee," 
assigning the same reason as he had before done to the 
king. But the old prophet " said unto him, I am a prophet 
also as thou art. and an angel spake unto me, by the 
word of the Lord, saying bring him back with thee in- 
to thy house, that he may eat bread and drink water. 
But he lied unto him. So he went back with him, and did 
eat bread in his house and drink water." 

And now, brethren, it must be admitted, that, in our 
sense of justice, no harm could possibly happen to this per- 
son, so fully bent upon obeying God, and supposing a 
new direction to have been communicated by an angel. 
But what was the fact 1 What availed his being honestly 
deceived to the belief of a lie ? Nothing, absolutely nothing. 
" Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed 
the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment 
which the Lord thy God commanded thee" " thy carcass 
shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers. And it 
came to pass," " when he was gone, a lion met him by the 
way, and slev. him," " according to the word of the Lord." 
Such were the consequences of disobedience, placed in the 
most favourable light the ingenuity of man can devise. 
And if the narrative shows not, that no excuse will be ac- 
cepted in lieu of fulfilling God's will, then will I confess my 
utter inability to expound the scriptures of truth, and that 
no injury will result to those, who, upon any plausible pre- 
text, cast aside the apostolick church for churches of hu- 
man invention. But surely upon that narrative, there can- 
not be, among the serious, two opinions. They must in- 
terpret it as I have done. And ardently do I pray, that it 
may prove powerfully instrumental in awakening &11 class- 
es of errorists to their great danger, long as they persist in 
avoiding their reasonable service. 

Thus then, brethren, I have succeeded in presenting you 
with ten instances from the old testament, out of a large 
number to the same purport, in which it is manifest, that 
there were so many ways which seemed right to the per- 
sons concerned in them, when in the judgment of him who 



SERMON VIII. 



97 



judgeth righteous judgment, the end thereof were the ways 
of death. How do ye like them? If ye tell me that they 
are irrelevant to the subject of episcopacy, because there 
was in each case the transgression of a divine command, I 
have no difficulty whatever in allowing your objection 
to be valid, provided episcopacy be not the institution of 
God, designed by him to be permanently adhered to, which 
is the question to be hereafter discussed. 

If ye insist that there was nothing like sincerity of be- 
lief in some of the examples adduced, because of the great 
wickedness which was perpetrated, I reply, that there are 
vast multitudes now, even professing christians, who assert 
their sincere disbelief of a final deluge of wrath, as freely 
as did the antediluvians the incredulity of their hearts, in 
relation to the then predicted deluge. And the like obser- 
vation applies to the breaking of the sabbath, to marriages 
within prohibited degrees, and to the usurping of the priest- 
hood, if it be an usurpation. 

If ye contend, that, in the instances where sincerity in 
errour will be allowed by the majority of your number, 
the judgment incurred was temporal only, and not follow- 
ed by eternal inflictions, I answer, that it is mere conjec- 
ture at the best, and is besides open to the animadversion, 
that others may resort to the same plea in the case of the 
antediluvians, the sabbath breaker, and Korah and his as- 
sociates. They may even trouble you, on your hypothesis, 
to account for the fact, that the seemingly least culpable 
offenders, Uzzah and the man of God from Judah, were 
more severely punished, in a temporal point of view, than 
the worst of them, being visited with a summary death, 
when Cain, the descendants of Seth, Simeon and Levi, with 
Saul, were permitted to live, were allowed the opportuni- 
ty to repent. 

It was indeed, to exhibit the whole subject in this im- 
posing aspect, that I was particularly induced to trespass 
on your patience, by bringing forward so many and such 
different instances of transgression. For if they escaped 
not, whose disobedience betrayed no more malignity than 
the inconsiderate touching of the ark and believing the old 
prophet, who also was suffered to survive his falsehood ; 
if they were subjected to the same or a more shocking ca- 
tastrophe than such, as you say, could not have sincerely 



98 



SERMON VI II. 



failed in their duty ; What becomes of the distinction be- 
tween the greater and the lesser offences, so far as to take 
away all guiltiness from the commission of the latter? 
What becomes of the alleged impunity, with which posi- 
tive institutions may be broken, compared with moral re- 
quirements, when almost all the examples produced are 
of the former description ; when some of them were no 
more than infractions of the then ecclesiastical regimen? 
Alas, brethren, in every view taken of disobedience in the 
holy scriptures, there is not the shadow of safety to recom- 
mend it. If they are to be credited, all apologies in its fa- 
vour are wonderfully delusive and vain. Korah disdained 
the " small thing," of serving under Aaron, he sought 
the priesthood also, and if bishops be the successors of the 
apostles in office, there are those at this time, who " seek 
the priesthood" as well as he ; who equally disdain the 
" small thing" of serving under the apostles of Christ. 

In my next discourse, the subject will be pursued by 
bringing forward a few passages from the new testament, 
in perfect unison with what has been here selected from 
the old. In the mean time, I must occupy a short 
space with one of the proverbs of Solomon, often wrested 
from its true meaning to subserve the cause of errour, to 
prove that sincerity in errour completely exonerates its 
subject from rnoral responsibility. It is this ; " As he 
thinketh in his heart, so is he." And never did its author 
utter a truer saying. Look at the connexion, in which it 
occurs, in the twenty-third chapter of the book of proverbs. 
" Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, nei- 
ther desire thou.his dainty meats ; for as he thinketh in his 
heart, so is he. Eat and drink, saith he to thee, but his 
heart is not with thee." And who does not at once perceive, 
that all this is so far from consecrating sincerity in errour, 
that the idea is not even suggested ; that it is actually insin- 
cerity in the performance of externally good offices, which is 
adverted to ; and this, not for the purpose of commenda- 
tion, but to receive a merited rebuke ? Reply is needless. 
There is indeed the semblance of hospitality pictured forth, 
but it is accompanied by the grudging heart, and this will 
vitiate the seemingly noblest charity. For the Lord look- 
eth not on the outward appearance ; he looks there ; and 
if a man in his heart thinketh uncharitably, though he were 



SERMON VIII. 



99 



to give all his goods to feed the poor, Paul hath apprized 
us, that he would be nothing. Were ye even to abstract 
the passage from its context, it would amount to no more 
than the truisms ; If a man thinketh right, he is right : If 
he thinketh wrong, he is wrong. 

And thus easily I expose one of those numerous perver- 
sions of the divine word, which are constantly on the alert 
to win unstable souls. Would to God, that I could as 
easily persuade all the deluded to renounce the fatal opiate 
of their delusion being safe, because of the sincerity with 
which it is entertained. They would soon feel what they 
do not now feel, the necessity of unrestricted obedience. 
Peace of mind and conscience would be their portion, long 
as they continued upon the earth. And when their souls de- 
parted hence in the Lord, his mansions, of heavenly rest 
and unclouded felicity, would be their exceeding great re- 
ward, forever and forever. Amen. 



SERMON IX, 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

pgr zion's sake will i not hold my peace, and for 
Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETH. 

The examples of the inefficacy of sincerity in errour, 
introduced in the preceding discourse, were all derived 
from the old testament, and may therefore be regarded as 
worthless authorities, by some of the more modern branch- 
es of the kingdom divided against itself. Numbers how- 
ever will agree with me, that they fairly come within the 
broad provision of the apostolick rule ; " All scripture is 
given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, 
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness ; 
that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished 
unto all good works." A rule, that of itself speaks volumes 
in vindication of the doctrine, that religion consists in strict 
obedience to the divine commands, and not in honestly 
doing that which is in diametrical opposition to them. 
But on this very subject the new testament is by no means 
silent, and in various modes sustains the views already 
taken. 

1. It is done in the allegorical form. If ye go to the 
parable of the talents, ye will find, that he who received 
but one, with great apparent singleness of mind, " came 
and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, 
reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where 
thou hast not strewed. And I was afraid, and went and 
hid thy talent in the earth, Lo ! there thou hast that is 
thine." But was the apology of this timid, indolent man 
accepted, as he is evidently represented to be confident it 



SERMON IX. 



101 



would be, from having taken great precaution to preserve 
his talent ? No, no such thing. His Lord called him a 
" wicked and slothful servant he denounced his supposed 
knowledge of his being a hard man ; he took from him 
his unimproved talent, and directed him to be cast as an 
" unprofitable servant into outer darkness ; there shall be 
weeping and gnashing of teeth." 

2. The case of the pharisees is also strictly in point. 
No persons could think more highly of themselves than 
they thought. No modern sect could more complacently 
monopolize the religion of Christendom than they the reli- 
gion of Judea. They were indeed very zealous for the 
honour of God, and were only induced to proceed to ex- 
tremities against Jesus, on the supposition that he was a 
blasphemer, " because he not only had broken the sabbath, 
but said also that God was his Father, making himself 
equal with God." Even a celebrated parable is construct- 
ed upon the principle of their being sincere in believing 
themselves to be extra-religious. " The pharisee stood 
and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am 
not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or 
even as this publican. I fast twice in the week ; I give 
tithes of all that I possess." But notwithstanding this 
thanking of God for his own wonderful perfection of 
character, the poor publican, who, " standing afar off, 
would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but 
smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a 
sinner," " went down to his house justified rather than the 
other ; for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased, 
and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." 

And so of the great body of the pharisees, notwithstand- 
ing all their boastful pretensions, they were freely charged 
by him, who knew all things, with departures from the 
divine law, similar in principle to the forsaking of the 
apostolick church for the human conventicle. His words 
are, "laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold 
the tradition of men." And for this, for the still greater 
errour of neglecting " the weightier matters of the law," 
What language did he feel justfied in employing towards 
them ? " Wo unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites ! 
for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed 
appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead 
9 



102 



SERMON IX. 



men's bones and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also out- 
wardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full 
of hypocrisy and iniquity." " Fill ye up then the measure 
of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, 
how can ye escape the damnation of hell ?" 

3. Nor must I omit to mention the man, who, " after 
the most straitest sect of" his " religion, lived a pharisee f 
I mean Saul of Tarsus, subsequently transformed into the 
apostle, Paul. And if so memorable an example, of the 
utter insufficiency of sincerity to obviate the guilt attached 
to bad actions, does not satisfy the reasonable mind, I shall 
leave it to its own devices, nor trouble myself to select 
another. His personal integrity of purpose is thus strong- 
ly verified by himself; " I verily thought with myself, that 
I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus 
of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem ; and 
many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received 
authority from the chief priests ; and when they were put 
to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished 
them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blas- 
pheme, and being exceedingly mad against them, I perse- 
cuted them even unto strange cities." 

But after all this verily thinking with himself, that he 
ought to take the active part he did, against the religion 
of Christ and its adherents, how plain and explicit was the 
condemnation of the outraged Saviour ! " Saul, Saul, why 
persecutest thou me ? It is hard for thee to kick against 
the pricks." And the fallen, trembling suppliant "said, 
Who art thou, Lord ? And he said, I am Jesus, whom 
thou persecutest." How plainly and explicitly, indeed, 
does Paul himself admit, in his first epistle to Timothy, 
that, before his conversion, he was " a blasphemer, and a 
persecutor, and injurious." He thought not thus, at the 
time of his errours being committed ; but this was no ex- 
cuse in his after judgment. He better knew the gospel, he 
so faithfully preached, than to be the victim of the crude 
imagination, that his own impressions, however conscien- 
tiously entertained, could set aside one single requisition of 
the word of God. 

Who then art thou, that repliest against God ? Who 
art thou that darest to substitute sincerity in errour, in the 
lieu of sincerity in perfect obedience? I can scarcely 



SERMON IX. 



103 



conceive of a single violation of the law or gospel, to 
which we are accustomed to extend the charity of a 
favourable judgment, that is not either expressly or virtu- 
ally condemned in some one of the cases, collected by me 
from the sacred volume. We have no right to reject so 
much as one evangelical doctrine, one moral precept, one 
instrumental means of grace. The scriptures were in- 
tended to be a light to the feet and a lamp to the paths of 
men. They can be mastered by repeated and prayerful 
perusal, and they must be obeyed. It is with remarkable 
precision against all errour, and against all change in the 
divine mind, as to the perfect gifts, he has bestowed and 
commanded to be used, that saint. James affectionately 
exhorts us ; " Do not err, my beloved brethren, Every 
good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh 
down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variable- 
ness, neither shadow of turning." 

But if sincerity be a good plea in extenuation of an er- 
roneous faith or practice, there must be variableness and 
something more than the shadow of turning with him. 
Many souls will be judged hereafter, not according to the 
revelation he has made, but according to their understand- 
ing of that revelation. One tribunal will be erected ; 
one judge will fill it ; and still, the guide to every decision 
must be the peculiarity of every man's faith ! What 
monstrous absurdity is this ? Fain would men fasten upon 
the Deity a system of jurisprudence whose main principle, 
if adopted by our courts of criminal law, would make 
them the laughing stock of the age. Not one culprit 
could be convicted of any crime, if he chose to plead in 
justification the good conscience, with which it was com- 
mitted. All robbers would be agrarians ; and all mur- 
derers, self constituted ministers of justice. That no 
such folly will prevail at the last and great assize, we have 
ample proof in the sacred volume. The " man, which 
had not on a wedding garment," instead of being fluent 
with excuses, was speechless at the interrogation, 
" Friend, how earnest thou in hither, not having a wedding 
garment ?" He was bound " hand and foot," " and cast 
into outer darkness." According to Jesus, instead of 
every man's understanding being the bible by which he is 
to be tried, another and a very different rule is made ab- 



104 



Sermon ix, 



solute ; " He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my 
words, hath one that judgeth him ; the word that I have 
spoken, the same shall judge him in. the last day. For I 
have not spoken of myself ; but the Father which sent me, 
he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what 
I should speak. And I know that his commandment is 
life everlasting." 

In the candid review of these true declarations from the 
scriptures, lay not therefore, brethren, the flattering unc- 
tion to your souls, as many do without much inquiry, that our 
heavenly Father is too just and good to punish his creatures 
for errours sincerely embraced. It is undoubtedly true, 
where those errours do not affect practice, do not cause us to 
break one of the divine commands. We may for example 
have very erroneous ideas of what constitutes the happi- 
ness of heaven, and what the misery of hell, without impair- 
ing our walk in all holy conversation and godliness. But 
of this, we may be certain, that, where the glad tidings of 
good are proclaimed, the Almighty will never pardon such 
errours, as in the very nature of things prevent men from 
being real christians. 

1 pass on to the consideration of ignorance, as a legiti- 
mate excuse for crime. It was not so regarded in the Mo- 
saick law. From numerous instances appearing in the 
book of Leviticus and in that of Numbers, I select one 
where the language is remarkably explicit. " If a soul sin, 
and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be 
done by the commandments of the Lord ; though he wist 
it not, yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity." At this 
early period, it is therefore apparent that no such apologv 
for transgression was deemed admissible, as the not know- 
ing the commandments, when they were publicly an- 
nounced, and it was made the duty of all to ascertain their 
requirements. This very ignorance itself was rather ad- 
judged to be a sin necessary to be found out and repented 
of, before pardon could ensue. In the case I have cited, 
remission of guilt was provided for, in this manner ; " He 
shall bring a ram without blemish out of the flock, with 
thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest ; and 
the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his 
ignorance wherein he erred, and wist it not : and it shall be 



SERMON IX. 



105 



forgiven him. It is a trespass-offering ; he hath certainly 
trespassed against the Lord." 

Nor did our Saviour Christ make a very satisfactory 
discrimination in favour of ignorance, when contrasting it 
with presumptuous guilt. " That servant, which knew his 
lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according 
to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he 
that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, 
shall be beaten with few stripes." True it is, that the pun- 
ishment in the one case is not so severe as in the other, 
A single thong would not so lacerate the flesh, as a scourge 
composed of many thongs. But when it is in relation to 
the intensity of suffering and not to its duration, that igno- 
rant offenders are more leniently punished than the wilful 
it must be acknowledged to furnish an exceedingly inade- 
quate incentive for remaining in a state, productive only of 
the less bitter portion of eternal death. 

And that I am fully authorized, in giving such a con- 
struction to the preceding passage, is evident from the 
judgment pronounced by the same divine Being, when " he 
began to upbraid the cities, wherein most of his mighty 
works were done, because they repented not. Wo unto 
thee Chorazin ! wo unto thee Bethsaida ! for if the mighty 
works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre 
and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sack- 
cloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolera- 
ble for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you." 
Ignorance then is inexcusable, even where knowledge 
would have produced the deepest contrition, and have 
caused the guilty to repent in sackcloth and ashes ; though 
the fate of Tyre and Sidon will be more tolerable in the 
day of judgment than that of Chorazin and Bethsaida, it 
will not be the less enduring ; though it " be more tolerable 
for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for " Ca- 
pernaum, yet will the most serious dissenters reject with 
unanimity, the idea that such workers of iniquity, as 
the scriptures represent the Sodomites to have been, at the 
period of their destruction, are to be ultimately admitted 
to the rest of the true children of God. 

Ignorance however will still have its advocates, and I 

shall be triumphantly reminded of the prayer of Jesus in 

behalf of his murderers ; " Father, forgive them ; for they 

9 # 



106 SERMON IX. 

know not what they do." But ere this can be legitimately 
employed to prove, that there is perfect indemnity for 
sins of ignorance, it must first appear that Jesus pleaded 
for their forgiveness, without reference to future conviction 
of sin and future repentance, on their part. And this it 
were idle to attempt No such doctrine is to be found in 
the bible. Repentance must always precede the remis- 
sion of sins. We may rightly pi ay, as our Saviour did, 
for the pardon of the worst living sinners ; but not that it 
may take place, independent of such prerequisites, as the 
God of all grace, in his infinite wisdom, has seen fit to ex- 
act. And that Christ designed no more, in his prayer for 
the miserably infatuated men, who slew him, is clearly de- 
monstrable from one of the sermons of Peter, in which 
this very crime is charged upon his hearers ; " Ye -denied 
the Holy One and the just, and desired a murderer to be 
given unto you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath 
raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses." He 
even proceeds to make the very acknowledgment before 
made at the cross, " and now, brethren, I wot that through 
ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers." But did this 
ignorance appear to him all sufficient to ensure their for- 
giveness ? Did he so interpret the prayer of his dying mas- 
ter, as to convert it into an infallible passport to the heav- 
enly world, though its subjects remained impenitent and 
unconverted ? No, no ; I perceive nothing of this kind 
in Peter's energetick rebuke. His counsel to these A^ery 
men was altogether of another description. In their ears, 
he poured the gospel admonition ; " repent ye therefore 
and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when 
the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the 
Lord." 

Similar remarks apply to the declaration of Paul 
where he says, after confessing that he " was before a 
blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious ; but I ob- 
tained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief." Not 
that we are to understand him to mean by his obtaining 
mercy, that he could have continued the same offences to 
the close of life with impunity, if his ignorance had not 
been removed. But the mercy consisted in his being mi- 
raculously brought to the knowledge of the truth and con- 
Yiction of sin before he died. In virtue of this he believed,, 



SERMON IX. 



10? 



and repented, and was baptized. If he had not done all 
this, when he was " ready to be offered, and the time of 
his departure was at hand," he could not have indulged in 
that triumphant soliloquy, " I have fought a good fight, I 
have finished my course, I have kept the faith ; henceforth 
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which 
the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, 
and not to me only, but unto all them that love his ap- 
pearing." 

Ths ignorance and unbelief of Paul were not there- 
fore valid excuses for blasphemy, for the persecution 
of Jesus in the person of his disciples, and for con- 
senting to the death of Stephen and other martyrs. 
They only lessened the enormity of his guilt. They only 
inclined the Most High to be merciful in opening the door 
to his transformation of life and character. If ye adopt 
the other opinion, ye must admit, that the atheist Kneeland 
was right in ridiculing the indictment charging him with 
the blasphemy of God, when he utterly denied the exis- 
tence of a Supreme Being. He will even be authorized 
to assert with his last breath, though I now expire in the 
atheistick faith, yet if atheism be false, I shall " obtain 
mercy," because I have held to it " ignorantly in un- 
belief." 

Yes, brethren, such would be the consequences of yield- 
ing to the popular interpretation of the passage in discus- 
sion. I prefer Paul's own explanation, as it both vindi- 
cates the honour of God, and affords encouragement to 
the vilest of sinners, provided they repent and believe, 
fear God and obey him with a perfect heart. " This is a 
faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ 
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am 
chief. Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in 
me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering, 
for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on 
him to life everlasting." Before the chief of sinners could be 
saved, he then must be a pattern to all believers ; he must 
lead the life and die the death of the christian. 

If I am wrong in arriving at this conclusion, if a blind 
zeal for God and against Christ was regarded by him, as 
a perfect justification of his malconduct, to the extent of 
being chief of sinners, how can ye account for the anxiety 



108 



S'ERMON IX. 



he constantly displayed for the conversion of his country- 
men, equally blind and equally zealous ? Why should he 
pray for them, with such uncommon fervour and solicitude ? 
If he was safe, at the time of pursuing a worsa course, 
they also must have been safe. If he needed not to have 
repented in this life, their repentance was alike unnecessary. 
If they were actually travelling on the road to heaven, 
though they would not give up Judaism and embrace 
Christianity, I perceive not the motive for an address, im- 
passioned and urgent as this ; " Brethren, my heart's desire 
and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might l^e saved. 
For I bear them record, that they have a zeal of God, 
but not according to knowledge. For they, being igno- 
rant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish 
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves 
unto the righteousness of God." 

On so plain a statement, I know not what others may 
say, but to me it does appear perspicuous as if written 
with a sunbeam, that Jewish righteousness was not equiva- 
lent to the righteousness of God ; that there was guilt in- 
curred by not submitting to the latter ; and that this guilt 
was only modified, not excused, owing to the zeal and ig- 
norance in which it was conceived. The apostle pro- 
ceeds to assert, that " Christ is the end of the law for right- 
eousness to every one that belie veth." He places salva- 
tion upon the- ground, " if thou shalt confess with thy 
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that 
God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and 
with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." The 
whole argument is too long to insert. I must content my- 
self with the observation, that the candid reader, of the tenth 
and eleventh chapters of the epistle to the Romans, will 
never be beguiled into the fatal illusion, that where " the 
light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth 
it not," ignorance will satisfactorily occupy the place of 
knowledge, and be recognised as an efficient substitute for 
belief in Jesus and repentance from dead works to serve 
the living God. 

At all events, the old presbyterians were addicted to no 
such dividing of the word of God. In their view, the es- 
sentials of religion were not even confined to its internal 



SERMON IX. 



109 



graces. They were equally zealous for externals, and 
would by no means admit, that ignorance of them was to 
be regarded as a venial errour. Speaking of no less a 
man than Whitfield, one of their number is very prompt 
and bold in asserting ; " His unacquaintedness with it," 
presbyterianism, " can be no excuse, since ignorantia legis 
non excusat a peccato ; and since he had access to be among 
presbyterians, he hath not given up with, but still retains, 
his episcopacy." Not to be a presbyterian was therefore 
in his judgment a sin, for which ignorance was not a 
sufficient apology. Episcopacy must be given up, or that 
sin would be inexcusably retained by all episcopalians. 
No other inference can be fairly drawn. 

The whole body of true presbyterians, mentioned in my 
first discourse, were indeed inveterate denouncers of the 
church. They would not allow her to have ever possessed 
a particle of piety. You shall judge for yourselves, bear- 
ing in mind, that long before the following declarations 
were made, the almost pre-eminently learned and pious 
archbishop Leighton had gone to his everlasting rest. " It 
is observable ever since that time, that prelacy had its first 
being and beginning in Scotland, that the purity of doctrine, 
practice of holiness, and a gospel conversation was never 
known to be among such as were either owners or favourers 
of abjured prelacy." " Nor can there be so much as one 
instance given, that ever there was a diocesan bishop or 
tolerate sectarian in this land, who were single, sound, and 
sincere, in the true and pure worship and service of God 
in their own practice or promoters of that doctrine, which 
is according to godliness among others. For the Lord 
hath ever set such black marks of his displeasure upon 
prelatick and sectarian teachers, as hath evidenced them to 
be plants, that his heavenly Father never planted, which in 
due time he will root up." 

I need not enlarge. The whole subject is fraught with 
materials for serious reflection rather than bitter invectives 
against brethren, professing to rejoice in the same spiritual 
faith. It may have a gloomy and forbidding aspect. But 
so has the declaration of Christ ; " strive to enter in at the 
strait gate ; for many I say unto you will seek to enter in, 
and shall not be able," Instead of finding fault with doc- 



110 



SERMON IX. 



trines, legibly inscribed upon the sacred page, be it our 
pleasure then to strive to make them profitable to our 
soul's health. If we have erred, let us err no more. Sin- 
cerity must be stripped of all its plausibility, when the 
wrong way is exposed, and the right, clearly discerned. 
Under these circumstances, ignorance ceases to be a real- 
ity ; it becomes pretence. Though our sins, from long 
belief of their being acts of righteousness, be dear to our 
hearts as a right hand or a right eye, yet must they be 
lopped away as vicious excrescences, or plucked out as 
cancerous humours, soon as their actual character appears. 
Not to do this would of itself be conclusive evidence of 
the utter insufficiency of the excuses for non-obedience, 
upon which I have dwelt, even where darkness continues 
to brood over the precincts of the mind. It would prove, 
that the absence of light was not the only obstacle in the 
path of duty. The will would be shown to be secretly at 
fault, and to be imbued, in no slight degree, with the genius 
of ill desert. 

It must also be easily perceived, that a reliance upon 
such doctrines, as the undoubted efficacy of sincerity and 
ignorance, in legalizing the paths of errour, must operate 
as a serious impediment to resolute and persevering in- 
quiries, as to the right way which leadeth to everlasting 
life. For if they constitute propitiatory offerings, what 
need is there of daily searching the scriptures to ascertain, 
whether a doctrine or a practice, to which we are partial, 
be certainly true or false ? If two articles of food were 
presented to me, one of which was poisoned, I should re- 
frain from eating either, until I could accurately discrimi- 
nate between them, from the conviction that death would 
be the consequence of an erroneous choice. But convince 
me that poison is not poison, in other words, that a given 
substance does not possess the deleterious properties 
ascribed to it, that it is not only innocent but highly nutri- 
tious ; and I may overlook the old adage, that the slowest 
poisons are the surest ; I may be cheated into the con- 
sumption of a species of food, which shall gradually under- 
mine the firmest constitution, and ere long consign the 
most sinewy limbs and athletick frame to a preternatural 
grave. 



SERMON IX. 



Ill 



Too often indeed, as we have great reason to fear, has 
a similar mistake been made in the infinitely more moment- 
ous concerns of religion. The question, whether water 
baptism is or is not one of the essentials of salvation, has 
been made to depend upon some thing very different from 
the fact of its being or not being the command of God. 
This would be to simplify the investigation far too much to 
coincide with the lofty pretensions of reason. Her au- 
thority must be appealed to ; her dictum reverently asked. 
And does this ignore the indictment against the sinner, 
appearing in the word of God ? Nothing can exceed the 
implicit faith, with which it is received. One oracular re- 
sponse from her is of more weight than every thing utter- 
ed by him, who spake as never man spake. It carries 
conviction to the mind of that wonderfully sagacious 
jury, popular opinion ; and a verdict is speedily rendered, 
against which revelation lifts up her voice and protests in 
vain. Not that there is any intentional infidelity in the 
case. Not that God's law is presumptuously scorned and 
libelled as a thing of naught. But reason, having settled 
the matter independently of all revelation, having deter- 
mined upon its own perception of the nature of religious 
obligation, that the ceremony of baptism is nothing but a 
ceremony, the decision is the more readily acquiesced in 
from the consideration, that though it be an errour, yet 
being sincerely embraced and ignorantly persisted in, the 
consequences cannot be fatal to the salvation of the soul. 

But do, as I have attempted to do, however feebly, 
convince men that sincerity and ignorance, in relation to 
errour, are not to be deemed equivalent to right views 
followed by right practice ; and you will make them infi- 
nitely more anxious to obtain the true sense of the holy 
scriptures, than they can be with such moral incumbrances 
upon the conscience, to blunt its sensibility and stifle its 
upbraidings. They will look to the question of baptism, 
and to all other questions concerning heavenly tilings, with 
a single eye to the discovery of the divine will. The con- 
sciousness will exist, that they examine and decide at their 
peril ; and this consciousness will create a greater love for 
the truth and a more decided aversion to every false way. 
Where hundreds now read the bible, as if by constraint, 



112 



SERMON IX. 



devoid of the spirit of prayer, and indifferent to the system 
of faith they may finally adopt, there would be thousands 
to pore over it with eager solicitude, hungering and thirst- 
ing after righteousness, as the hart panteth for the water 
brooks. No opiate would be found, powerful enough to 
put the awakened soul to sleep. It would not totter upon 
the precipice of eternity, surrounded by faithless watch- 
men, crying peace, peace, when there is no peace. But 
the word of God would have free course and be glorified. 
Its conquests from the pulpit would be great, and in the 
closet of devout reading and meditation, they would be 
greater still. 

Nothing indeed is so much wanting in this experimental 
age, to ensure the blessing of God upon the spiritual inter- 
ests of men, as the abandonment of all human guides, in 
the sense of their being infallible expounders of sound doc- 
trine, and the placing all confidence in the law of the Lord 
to convert the soul ; the testimony of the Lord to make 
wise the simple ; the statutes of the Lord to rejoice the 
heart ; the commandment of the Lord to enlighten the 
eyes ; the fear of the Lord to endure forever ; the judg- 
ments of the Lord, that they are true and righteous alto- 
gether. 

Preachers are but men, and are getting to be more and 
more inclined to avail themselves of the traditions of men. 
They dislike to offend their prejudices. It is too much 
their interest to study to be popular rather than to be 
mighty in the scriptures. There alone can we drink deep- 
ly of the fountain of wisdom. The Almighty is not afraid 
of our censures. He does not soften down an unpleasant 
truth to make it the more palatable and easy of digestion. 
He does not tremble when the eye of the scorner flashes 
indignation, as it encounters his threatenings, nor when loud 
utterance is given to the vapourings of the infidel. And 
therefore the value of the bible ; therefore the necessity of 
preaching the bible and the bible only. 

From the bottom of my heart, I abjure all cant, all 
fanaticism, all bigotry. But to be pure from the blood of 
my fellow sinners, I must insist upou scriptural obedience ; 
I must urge the renouncing of every errour. Then shall 
we be Israelites and christians indeed. Our lives will be 



SERMON IX. 



113 



holy and our deaths glorious. Our souls will repose in 
paradise and our bodies sleep in Jesus. Eventually, when 
he shall come, with all the holy angels with him, to judge 
the world in righteousness, it will be our happiness to ex- 
change our several beds of dust for the kingdom of glory, 
that we may rejoice forever in the green pastures, and 
bathe forever in the still waters, of eternity. Amen. 



10 



SERMON X. 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

for zion's sake will i not hold my peace, and for 
Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETH. 

It may have struck many as a formidable objection to 
the theory, I have endeavoured to establish, that if the 
keeping of all the commandments, pertaining to the reli- 
gion of Christ, be essential to ensure the salvation of the 
soul, there will be a universal failure on the part of his 
disciples to obtain the heavenly crown, since " all have 
sinned, and come short of the glory of God." " As it is 
written, There is none righteous, no, not one ; there is 
none that understandeth ; there is none that seeketh after 
God. They are all gone out of the way ; they are to- 
gether become unprofitable. There is none that doth 
good, no, not one." 

And certainly, I am not the individual to contest the 
fact of the moral obliquity of our nature. Were a per- 
son of mature age and apparently sound intellects, to as- 
sert, that he had never committed any sin in thought, word, 
or deed, if he did not blush at his presumption, the world 
would. The most charitable construction of his conduct, 
it could be induced to assign, would class him with the 
more inveterate subjects of monomania. Of Jesus Christ 
alone, can it be truly affirmed, that he " did no sin, neither 
was guile found in his mouth." " All we, like sheep, have 
gone astray ; we have turned every one to his own way ; 
and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us ail." 
There is no scripture, to which we should more instinct- 
ively turn, often as we are beguiled into the admiration of 



SERMON X. 



115 



our own excellencies, than this of the apostle John, " If 
we say, that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the 
truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and 
just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all un- 
righteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we 
make him a liar, and his word is not in us." 

Fully then do I admit the force of the objection, and as 
fully, brethren, do I hope to answer it, Recollect there- 
fore, that it might have been urged with equal propriety 
against the indispensable necessity of Jewish obedience. 
The ancient people of God were all of them sinners no 
less than ourselves. They had no such power to control 
the risings of natural corruption, to quell upon the instant 
every insurrectionary movement of the passions, but that 
Abraham prevaricated twice, in representing Sarah to be 
his sister ; and Moses spake unadvisedly with his lips ; and 
David, oh how miserably did he fall from his integrity ; how 
deservedly was his heart transfixed with anguish, when 
suddenly charged with murder and adultery, in the energet- 
ick denoument of the parable, " Thou art the man." 
Nevertheless, they all died in faith, looking for a better 
country, even a heavenly. The injunctions of the law, re- 
quiring obedience in all things, were so fulfilled, that they 
departed hence in the peace of God, which passeth all un- 
derstanding. To the very close of the Jewish dispensa- 
tion, it was not so impracticable to become an Israelite in- 
deed, in the only legitimate way, the way of obedience, 
but that when the young man in the gospel said to Jesus, 
" Good master, what good thing shall 1 do, that I may have 
eternal life ?" The answer was prompt and unequivocal ; 
" If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." 

It is time therefore, brethren, to apprize you, that all this 
may be effected, without conferring upon the doer of the 
law or the gospel, the right to pride himself upon entire ex- 
emption from sin. I will illustrate my meaning with ex- 
amples, restricted, to avoid prolixity, to something com- 
manded to be done. Prayer and the Lord's supper are of 
this description, Every true christian devoutly prays to 
God, and devoutly partakes of the emblematick body and 
blood of Christ. But ask him if he was never faint and 
weary in elevating the flight of his soul heavenward ; if he 
could always so disentangle his thoughts from things visi- 



116 



SERMON X. 



ble as to send them up aloft to mingle with things invisible, 
pure from every taint and adulterated with no alloy. Ask 
him if he never approached, in a frame of mind far from 
gratifying to himself, to feed upon heavenly mysteries ; if 
his false and wayward heart was always upon the table, 
before which his knees were bent. Ask him thus ; And 
mournfully will he acknowledge the frequent languor and 
exhaustion of his spirit. He was not as contrite in con- 
fession, as importunate for pardon and forgiveness, as 
thankful for the blessings of providence and grace, as full 
of confidence in the divine promise, " Whosoever shall 
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved," as he 
could wish. At the altar, in his best estate, he has nothing 
whereof to boast ; in the less privileged tone of his mind, 
he has not so commemorated the crucifixion of his Lord 
and Master ; so dwelt upon the agonies of his dying love ; 
so filled his own soul with the emotions of returning love, 
as to be free from the conviction of his great unworthiness, 
the utter imperfection of services, he vainly strives to 
compass without spot or blemish. 

And yet, the true christian does pray, does commune. 
He does not fly in the face of the divine will, because he 
cannot obey with the perfection of a sinless being. Had he 
the innocence of an angel, he would serve God with the 
faultlessness of an angel. The eye of his faith would never 
wink ; the wings of his devotion would never tire. But 
he has the infirmities of a man, and long as the grave 
remains unoccupied, they will loudly call for weeping, and 
mourning, and lamentation for sin. Even Paul, who " de- 
lighted in the law of God after the inward man," " Saw 
another law in his members, warring against the law of his 
mind, and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin." 
Even Paul, reflecting upon this perpetual conflict, was 
forced to exclaim, " O wretched man that I am ! Who 
shall deliver me from the body of this death V* And the 
modern christian is not better than him. The breathings 
of his soul are not holier. He has not the less need to 
" keep under his body and bring it into subjection." It is 
always rebellious, always on the alert to master the in- 
ward man, and drag down its aspirings from heaven to 
earth. 

Th^j difficulty in question is therefore easily removed. 



SERMON X . 



117 



Were we to suppose, the laws of God to be precisely a 
hundred in number, not one of them is scorned, refused, or 
neglected by the faithful servant of Jesus. He busies 
himself in the performance of all. He is not given to halt 
between two opinions. He is not enamoured with half- 
way compliances. He is firmly resolved to offend pre- 
sumptuously in no one single point, because divinely assured 
that such presumption, such avoidance of a duty or foster- 
ing of a besetting sin, if unrepented of, taints the principle 
and annihilates the purity of all other observances. To 
sinless perfection he lays no claim. To compare himself 
advantageously with God or angel is not his forte. Each 
day he has errours to deplore, failures and imperfections 
to confess, pardon to entreat. 

But unlike the audacious sinner, he offends not auda- 
ciously. Unlike too many who wear the livery of Christ, 
he does not first content himself with feeble, wavering, and 
shortlived efforts to find out the will of God, and then set 
down complacently to enjoy the spiritual capital he has ac- 
quired, persuaded that if there be any delinquency, even a 
total failure as to some one requirement, it will not be as- 
scribed to indolence, or prejudice, or reluctance, or secret 
aversion ; persuaded, that it must rather be imputed to 
honest misapprehension or invincible ignorance. No, no : 
This would look too much like charging God foolishly, as 
if he had not wisdom sufficient to clothe his commands in 
exactly that kind of language, which was best adapted to 
convey their meaning to every sincere inquirer after truth. 
Instead of reposing on such virtual evasion, he prefers first 
to study out and reckon up in order all the commandments 
of his Father in heaven, and then to devote himself as assid- 
uously and as piously to the practice of the hundredth, as 
he does to that of the ninety and nine. 

Some persons however will still imagine, that faith is 
too much obscured by the multitude of observances, on 
which it has been my province to insist. They will say, that 
Moses indeed " describeth the righteousness which is of 
the law, that the man which doth these things shall live by 
them." But that, under the christian dispensation, a differ- 
ent rule prevails ; " Christ is the end of the law for right- 
eousness to every one that believeth." " By grace are ye 
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves ; it is the 
10* 



118 



SERMON X . 



gift of God." " Therefore by the deeds of the law. there 
shall no flesh be justified in his sight." But if it be thought, 
that all this indicates as if faith was not necessary under 
the Jewish economy, What are we to do with the scrip- 
ture, which saith, " Abraham believed God, and it was 
counted unto him for righteousness ?" Nay, he must have 
believed in Christ himself : To the Jews our Saviour an- 
nounced, " Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day ; 
and he saw it, and was glad." Of Moses also it is writ- 
ten, that " by faith," he " esteemed the reproach of Christ 
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." And " to 
Him give all the prophets witness, that, through his name, 
whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission 
of sins." Nothing then could be more idle than to sepa- 
rate Jewish faith from Jewish obedience. It was as much 
the medium of justification with them, though prospective 
and dimly perceived, as it is with us. 

And if this be granted, while the quotations from Paul 
are yet thought to supersede the necessity of keeping every 
gospel command, and to allow of our being somewhat an- 
tinomian in our practice, listen to this very apostle's indig- 
nant rebuke of all such groundless imaginings. " Do we then 
make void the law through faith ? God forbid ! yea, we 
establish the law." And again, " What shall we say then ? 
Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound ? God 
forbid ! How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer 
therein V More conclusive declarations need not be ad- 
duced. Perfectly do they vindicate the gospel from the 
imputation of tolerating moral impurities. Satisfactorily 
do they prove that although salvation be purely of grace, 
" through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," there is 
nevertheless no license whatever from him to " hold the 
truth in unrighteousness ;" there is nothing in the nature of 
faith to justify the slightest deviation from the divine law ; 
it must be sincerely repented of or forgiveness will not 
ensue. 

I may even assert, without fear of refutation, that faith in 
Christ comes more into competition with the pride of reason, 
when tried by the minor, than the major, injunctions of his 
word. For let me remind you, that in God " we live, and 
move, and have our being :" Let me speak of his match- 
less skill in the construction of the beautiful casket, wherein 
the soul resides ; of that soul's intellectual and moral 



SERMON X . 



119 



properties ; how it soars into high converse with its Ma- 
ker, or revels in the luxury of social and clomestick attach- 
ments : Let me point you to the round earth, filled with 
every thing to make glad the heart of man ; or, if ye will 
reveal the grave, wherein all that gladness is at length de- 
posited, that the worm may not be deprived of its banquet 
nor corruption of its prey, let me still roll back the curtain 
of the skies, and put the immortal soul in possession of joys 
unspeakable and full of glory, all derived to it, because God 
" commended his love towards us, in that, while we were 
yet sinners, Christ died for us f Let me do this. And no 
more elaborate argument will be requisite to convince you 
of the sacredness of your obligation to obey the first and 
great commandment, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, 
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
mind, and with all thy strength." The citadel of reason is 
here stormed by the amazing profusion of the benefits con- 
ferred, and is forced to believe, that the love of such a Be- 
ing must be absolutely essential in order to ensure the final 
recompense of reward. 

But do I venture to claim for the seemingly insignificant 
rite of baptism, the like necessity of observance ? The 
pride of reason instantly takes the alarm. At once she 
falls back upon her reserved rights, those of common sense 
and private judgment, her lip curling in scorn, and her 
eye glancing defiance. And nothing can be more natural. 
I do not wonder that she so plays the virago and enacts 
the infidel, it is in perfect coincidence with my views. 
The more diminutive the aspect of the duty, the more 
Naamans there will be to turn awav in a raffe from its 
performance. The most victorious of the victories of faith, 
because the most difficult to achieve, is that of subduing 
the arrogance of reason and compelling her to pay cordi- 
al homage at the shrine of some little tiling. 

It is consequently my aim in these discourses, and I do 
believe that it will be their actual tendency, to elevate and 
not to depress the standard of faith. It was not for giving 
in his adhesion to some cardinal doctrine of the cross, it 
was for the confiding singleness of mind with which the 
centurion avowed his conviction of Jesus being able, by 
" speaking the word only," to heal afar off, as well as nigh 
at hand, that this gracious Being " marvelled and said to 



» 



120 SERMON X . 

them that followed, Verily, I say unto you, I have not 
found so great faith, no, not in Israel." 

Nor is my confidence, brethren, in the argument for 
positive institutions, in the least degree shaken by the con- 
sideration ye may present, that the indwelling conscious- 
ness of the love of God, pervading the soul, is a much bet- 
ter criterion for determining a state of acceptance with 
him. Not however, that the presumption is mine to dis- 
parage so vital an attainment, or to utter a syllable, the 
bearing of which it would be to deprive it of its rank, 
among the first and foremost graces of a new creature in 
Christ Jesus. But who does not know with what wonder- 
ful facility, we can flatter ourselves with the belief of our 
being the sincere lovers of God ? It is shocking to all our 
cherished feelings of veneration and gratitude, to be justly 
amenable to the charge of enmity against him. To allow 
it, would be tantamount to pronouncing the severest con- 
demnation upon our own souls. And hence the danger of 
self deception ; hence the advantage of some other tests, 
by which to determine the actual condition of our wayward 
hearts. When the mere affections of the mind are relied 
upon, Jesus may say unto us, as he did to the Jews, " I 
know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am 
come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not." They 
received not his words. They kept not his sayings. Judged 
by this rule, their vaunted love evaporated into airy 
nothing. 

And lest we, at the last, should be found in the same pre- 
dicament, the scripture cannot be too often the subject of our 
meditations, in which the love of God is expressly identi- 
fied with the keeping of his commandments. Positive 
institutions will then assist in enabling us to arrive at a 
right decision. Though we may verily think with our- 
selves, that every thing moral and spiritual has been per- 
fectly acquired, when in the divine sight we are yet in 
our sins ; though all this may frequently occur, it is 
manifest, that the consciously unbaptized and non-com- 
muning can never claim to have evinced their love of God, 
at the font and the altar. The sin of not obeying in these 
particulars, they cannot conceal from themselves. It was 
perhaps, for this very purpose, among others, that the sa- 
craments were ordained. They force us to test the reality 



SERMON X . 



122 



of our love to God, somewhat in the same way that 
almsgiving tries the reality of our love to man, " If a 
brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and 
one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed 
and filled ; notwithstanding ye give them not those things 
w T hich are needful to the body, what doth it profit ?" 

True indeed it is, that both almsgiving and sacra- 
mental compliances are far, very far, from infallible evi- 
dence of a renovated mind. But then there is no am- 
biguity whatever where they are absent, unless the absence 
be unavoidable. It rather clearly demonstrates, that, upon 
scriptural principles, the delinquent is uninfluenced by sin- 
cere love towards either God or man. And thus I show 
you the value of external ordinances, as certain tests of 
disobedience, at least, when love of a spurious kind may 
be easily mistaken for that which is genuine. Ye may 
say, with the Jews, " This is a hard saying ; who can 
hear it ?" But before ye reject it, remember the cause 
of their incredulity, remember the hard saying of Jesus, 
" Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink 
his blood, ye have no life in you." 

The next serious objection to the doctrine, that the 
keeping of all the commandments is essential to salvation, 
involves a perversion of the first paragraph of the twelfth 
chapter of Matthew. The disciples of Jesus, in passing 
through a corn-field on the sabbath day, " were an hunger- 
ed, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat," upon 
which the pharisees insisted, " Behold, thy disciples do 
that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day." But 
Jesus himself justified their conduct. In what manner ? 
Not by sanctioning the guilt of breaking the sacredness of 
the day, but by showing that there was no guilt incurred, 
no real infraction of the fourth commandment. For which 
purpose he cites the prophet Hosea, accusing the pharisees 
of ignorance of the passage ; " If ye had known what this 
meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would 
not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is 
Lord even of the sabbath day." Irresistible therefore is the 
conclusion, that the Lord of the sabbath had perfect con- 
trol of its duties ; that in this capacity he did have mercy 
and not sacrifice ; that, he compassionated the sufferings of 
the disciples who were hungry and allowed them to pluck 



122 



SERMON X. 



and eat ; and by reason of this allowance, that they were 
" guiltless." 

Ye will however say, brethren, that he not only quoted 
Hosea, he also appealed to a narrative in the twenty-first 
chapter of the first book of Samuel. " Have ye not read 
what David did, when he was an hungered, and they that 
were with him ; how he entered into the house of God, 
and did eat the showbread, which was not lawful for 
him to eat, neither for them, which were with him, but 
only for the priests ?" And this I have seen brought for- 
ward as triumphant proof of the liberty christians have 
to violate the law of God, in relation to positive institutions. 
Fatal liberty ! Dreadful misconception ! Why do not 
such persons perceive that David's case is adverted to as 
similar in principle to that of the disciples, who did not 
really break the sabbath, but only in appearance, and were 
pronounced guiltless ? He therefore, who was a prophet 
of God and must have known the mind of God, as to the 
manner in which he was to be relieved, when hungry and 
in the utmost danger from the violence of Saul, he, per- 
fectly understanding what he was about, as the history in 
Samuel denotes ; he, by the divine permission, receives 
from the hands of the priest, and not clandestinely, a scanty 
pittance of bread, which had been used in the service of 
the Lord, to appease his famished appetite and that of his 
servants. Lawful it was not according to the levitical 
law, but he, who made the levitical law, would have mercy 
and not sacrifice, and therefore it became lawful, precise- 
ly as the killing of the Amalekites was lawful, notwith- 
standing its literal infraction of the general prohibition. 

And that I am right in this construction ; that there was, 
in the instance of David, a divine permission for his con- 
duct, is evident, not only from its being cited in justification 
of the disciples, which would have been utterly irrelevant 
and incongruous, if he had been a guilty transgressor ; 
but beyond all this, there is the additional citation, " Have 
ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the 
priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blame- 
less V* The meaning of which is by no means difficult 
to perceive. According to the decalogue, " the seventh 
day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God : in it thou shalt 
not do any work f a command directed to all the host of 



SERMON X . 



123 



Israel. But afterwards, as may be seen in the twenty- 
eighth chapter of Numbers, the Almighty commanded to 
be sacrificed, " on the sabbath day two lambs of the first 
year without spot, and two tenth deals of flour for a meat 
offering, mingled with oil, and the drink offering thereof." 
And w T hat was the consequence ? The command was 
obeyed, to the profanation of the sabbath, so far as the 
decalogue was concerned ; but the priests, who performed 
the manual labour of the sacrifice, were blameless, because 
in this particular the fourth commandment was repealed 
by the competent authority. 

Fairly then do I w 7 rest the case of David from the hands 
of those, who would pervert it to improper uses. Fairly 
do I prove, that it must have been analogous in principle 
to that of the disciples and of the priests. Before it can 
be rightfully employed to vindicate modern departures 
from gospel institutions, I can do no less than demand a 
revelation from God, rather than the rescript of a sect ; a 
revelation, under his broad seal, repealing the word spoken 
by Christ and the apostles, and substituting every thing 
and nothing for the church and the sacraments of the 
church. As the whole paragraph in Matthew now stands, 
it strongly confirms my previous argument, that the divine 
command alone makes one action right and another wrong. 
It was right for the priests to eat the showbread and 
wrong for others, a wrong, that in the instance of David 
w r as made right by the w r ill of heaA T en. It was wrong to 
do any labour upon the sabbath day ; but by the same will 
it became right for the priests to do sacrifice thereon ; by 
the same will, it becomes right in us to devote it, if occa- 
sion require, to works of necessity and of mercy. On that 
day, Jesus authorized the hungry to pluck the ears of corn, 
and eat. On that day, he restored the withered hand, and 
justified the extricating of animals from peril. " Where- 
fore," to use his own words, " it is lawful to do well on the 
sabbath days." 

The practised caviller may also bring up the transac- 
tion, recorded in the thirteenth chapter of John, and adroit- 
ly argue that my system demands a rigid compliance with 
our Saviours example, in washing the feet of his disciples. 
And could it be made to appear, that his direction to them, 
" If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, 



124 



SERMON X. 



ye also ought to wash one another's feet, for I have given 
you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you ;" 
could it be made to appear, that this was intended to es- 
tablish a ceremony of perpetual obligation among chris- 
tians, no doubt the caviller would cease to be a caviller, 
and all men, who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity 
and in truth, would deem themselves imperatively bound 
to wash each other's feet. 

But no idea could be more crude, no effort more abor- 
tive. The direction was local and transitory, founded on 
a prevailing custom in the east, where the climate was 
warm, and sandals were used, so constructed as to expose 
the upper part of the feet, and render frequent ablutions 
one of the greatest luxuries to the wearied pedestrian. 

Taking advantage of this circumstance, and designing 
to inculcate a lesson of humility, Jesus therefore perform- 
ed the humble office in review, with no intention to make 
it a sacrament, no more intention to perpetuate its observ- 
ance, till he shall come again in his glorious majesty, than 
he had to forbid the christians of this age to adopt a certain 
style of dress, or dine in the best room of a house of pub- 
lick entertainment, or occupy the most eligible pew in a 
church, or exchange friendly salutations with each other, 
because the same disciples, with the same object in view, 
were expressly enjoined, not to " enlarge the borders of 
their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, 
and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the 
markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi," which 
were so many customs, familiar to the proud hearts and 
imperious brows of the scribes and pharisees. 

Were it otherwise, how indeed are we to account for 
the unbroken silence of the apostles as to the necessity of 
any such rite, throughout the acts and epistles ? Here were 
the two parts of a sacrament, the outward and visible sign, 
water, betokening the inward and spiritual grace, humility. 
And if it were actually instituted and ordained forever to 
be one of the sacraments of the gospel, why were not the 
apostles as explicit in reiterating the command of Jesus 
and enforcing its celebration, as they were in the case of 
baptism and the Lord's supper ? I cannot find that it is 
even alluded to more than once by either of their number, 
and that only as evidence of humility among christian 



SERMON X. 



125 



widows, unless ye would prove, that, in Paul's estimation 
every widow to be a christian, must be " under three score 
years old," have never " been the wife" of a second hus- 
band, have " brought up children," and " lodged stran- 
gers." as well as " washed the saints' feet." 

And is not this absolute dearth of all information, recog- 
nising the washing of feet as a sacramental obligation, or 
perpetual rite, when so much is said of the washing of re- 
generation, the baptism " in the name of the Father and of 
the Son and of the Holy Ghost " is not this dearth utterly un- 
accountable, on the supposition that the caviller is right ? 
Universal Christendom answers in the affirmative. Even 
the Roman catholic k church holds to no such ceremony 
as oecumenically binding, although, if I remember right, on 
some publick occasions, it is exhibited by the pontiff, in to- 
ken of his personal humility. With protestants, there is 
scarcely a pious individual, who would not agree with me, 
that such an objection, to the necessity of keeping external or- 
dinances, is too captious to proceed from the lips of a very 
warm friend of Jesus ; of one, who is himself addicted to 
the following of his example, by washing the extremities of 
twelve of his intimate friends and companions. 

Some persons too may very plausibly insinuate, that 
my doctrine is impracticable to be observed in many cases, 
owing to circumstances, over which the individual failing 
has no control. But this, in the examples I have heard 
given, is usually incorrect, either because the Deity does 
not require impossibilities, or the commandment does not 
apply. The bedridden are not commanded to go about doing 
good. They are not transgressors of the precept, " Pure 
religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to 
visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction," unless in- 
deed they refuse to send those dues of charity which their 
own hands cannot carry. 

Nor are the poor commanded to give alms to the rich, 
nor the master to obey his servant, nor the parent to honour 
his child, nor the husband to be ruled by his wife, nor wo- 
men to minister to men in the word and sacraments, nor 
the congregation to take oversight of the bishop. In all 
these cases, the command is directly the reverse, and sorry 
am I to say is not always obeyed with the alacrity 
and zeal, which becometh the children of the Most High 

11 



126 



SERMON X . 



and the household of faith. Neither are idiots the subjects 
of any divine law, nor maniacs from the time their mania 
commenced, nor lunaticks while the fit is upon them. 

And so I might go through a vast variety of cases, ex- 
posing in some the puerility, and in others the disingenu- 
ousness, with which objections may be arrayed against 
the grand doctrine of the bible, " Fear God, and keep his 
commandments ; for this is the whole duty of man." But 
by this time your patience, brethren, must be nearly or 
quite exhausted. My next discourse will be entirely de- 
voted to a discussion, embracing the highly interesting 
cases of infants and of the heathen. After which I shall 
proceed to bring forward, to the best of my poor ability, 
all the evidence, which the scriptures afford, that the apos- 
tolick, or as we now term it, the episcopal church, with its 
ministry, is a permanent and unchangeable institution, as 
permanent and unchangeable as the sabbath and the sacra- 
ments ; in short, that there are not two churches divinely 
established, no more than there are two sabbaths in a 
week, two baptisms, or two suppers of the Lord. And 
God, of his infinite mercy grant, that, in the investigation, I 
may have grace, so to unite the wisdom of the serpent and 
the harmlessness of the dove, that errour may not be 
broached on the one hand, nor charity be broken on the 
other. And to Him, the Father, with the Son and Holy 
Ghost, three persons and one God, shall be ascribed ever- 
lasting praise, and glory, and dominion, and power. Amen. 



SERMON XL 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

for zion's sake will i not hold my peace, and for 
Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETH. 

Infants do not obey the commands of God. What 
then is to become of those who die in infancy ? " That 
which is born of the flesh is flesh." Only " that which is 
born of the Spirit is spirit." Can they be saved? In 
settling this question in the affirmative, some persons would 
appeal exclusively to reason and observation, as the sole 
umpires in morals and religion. And what do they teach ? 
At the first blush, 1 am free to admit, the perfect innocence 
of our humanity. It is absurd to deny it, talking as the 
manner of some is, as if infants, the moment they were 
born, deserved God's wrath and damnation. Why, breth- 
ren, there is nothing more lovely, beautiful, and engaging. 
Who would not wish to be as free from guilt, as incapable 
of sinful thoughts, and words, and deeds ? Does not Christ 
himself say, " Except ye be converted, and become as 
little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heav- 
en ?" To speak of them, as deserving to be damned, is 
consequently to speak without knowledge and without au- 
thority. 

Not however on the ground of appearances ; because, 
to the eye, nothing can be more lovely, beautiful, and en- 
gaging than the infant blossoms of our race. Even reason 
and observation, when thoroughly and candidly employed, 
can arrive at no such result. You have seen the tiger. 
Is he not fierce, savage, unrelenting ? Would ye trust 
yourselves in the same den with him, for -the purpose of 



128 



SERMON XI. 



admiring the symmetry of his agile form, the beauty of his 
brindled coat, the softness of his velvet paw 1 Not you ; 
unless ye were reckless of life, and predetermined to 
dwell in the land of silence. But I present you with the 
young of the tiger ; and no lambs shall be more mild and 
gentle, more full of sport and antick play. Ye may take 
them up in your arms, and fold them to your bosom, with 
perfect impunity. What then is the estimate to be put 
upon appearances ? Let them grow up ; and ye know 
they will exhibit the nature of their dam ; such will be 
their tameless ferocity, though ye were to feed and caress 
them for a length of years. 

So likewise with the infant : It comes into the world 
with a cherub face and guileless as the dew. It compels 
our sympathy, and it beguiles our love. But let it increase 
in stature and in years ; let the mind expand ; let the pas- 
sions be developed, and invariably shall they teach you the 
stock of the tree from which it sprang. In its best estate, 
there are innumerable sins to be repented of. In its worst, 
look at the abandoned and profligate of the earth, at their 
shameless vices, with the polluted stews in which they de- 
light to wallow ; look at this, and acknowledge, all these 
were once little infants, fondled in affection's arms, and 
nursed upon affection's lap. How is the gold become dim, 
and the most fine gold changed ! Such after ail is human 
nature. Like produces like ; tigers after their kind ; vipers 
after their kind ; and man after his kind. We blossom 
well, but the canker was in the bud. The voice of philo- 
sophy corroborates the voice of religion. 

Nor must it be intimated, that this doctrine of natural, 
inherent depravement is to be regarded as a calumny upon 
our character. They, who use such language, never 
trouble themselves to think ; or, if they do, their thoughts 
are a disgrace to their understandings. The casuistry, to 
which I now allude, is constructed upon the basis, that if 
we assert the sinfulness of our nature, soon as we are 
born, it degrades and brutifies it ; makes it loathsome and 
not attractive, fit to be crushed under foot and not reared 
with assiduous care. But with what perfect facility can 
all such crude conceptions be scattered to the winds. Let 
us take these people at their word, and admit that the 
infant is what it seems to be, untainted as the light and 



SERMON XI. 



120 



pure as unsunned snow. What are you to say to the sins, 
it always indulges, after it arrives at the age of maturity ? 
Contending that they proceed from such a source, do you 
not make them to a thousand fold more vile, more detesta- 
ble, more abominable ? Is it not the same as maintaining, 
that all our iniquities are committed contrary to an innate 
tendency to do good ? In the affirmative, ye must reply. 
And the inference is too irresistible to be avoided. 

Some little palliation for guilt, it would be, to be con- 
scious of an hereditary propensity to its perpetration. On 
this very ground, Christ is represented to be a high priest , 
who is " touched with the feeling of our infirmities." But 
to make us naturally innocuous, or free from the mischiev- 
ous effects of the fall, and so sinning in direct opposition 
to all our natural inclinations and desires, is aggravating 
our guilt to a yet more alarming height, is absolutely piling 
it up, strata upon strata, as in fabulous annals the gods are 
revealed, piling Pelion upon Ossa. I never think of such 
stupid, suicidal theology, without reflecting, that its effect 
is to make us rival the atrocity of the devil, once an angel 
in glory, and ere long devesting himself of robes of spot- 
less purity, and falling like lightning from heaven. I do 
not credit the legal paradox, " the greater the truth, the 
greater the libel ;" but no man in his senses can deny, that 
the greater the encomiums you pronounce upon a prior 
state of innocence, so much the greater must be the repro- 
bation due to the subsequent state of iniquity. 

It is not therefore to the existence of a nature, immacu- 
late and instinct with prepossessions for God's law, that I 
attribute the salvation of departed infants. I rather be- 
lieve, that whatever disabilities they labour under, owing 
to Adam's transgression, have been thoroughly effaced and 
atoned for, to the extent of relieving them from all respon- 
sibility, by the death and sacrifice of Christ. For a sinful 
nature is something very different from personal guilt. 
The latter must be repented of, or it will remain unforgiv- 
en. The former is a derivation from our federal head, our 
misfortune, if the word be allowable, and not our crime. 
If we abstract it from the little infant, in which it appears, 
why then indeed, as the ninth article of the church rightly 
pronounces, " in every person born into this world, it de- 
serveth God's wrath and damnation." But the moment 
11* 



130 



SERMON XI. 



we connect it with the infant's soul, that very moment the 
soul is to be considered as redeemed and saved by Christ, 
as not having " sinned after the similitude of Adam's 
transgression," and so not morally accountable for his 
offence. Corporeal mortality is the only forfeit to be paid, 
and that is swallowed up in the victory of the cross. 
" Until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed 
when there is no law." 

And this principle, let it originally refer to whom you 
please, to what law and what people, this principle is 
peculiarly applicable to the condition of infants. It must 
have embraced them once, as well as others ; and as the 
coming of no law, not even the coming of the gospel, has 
so acted upon their senses, as to throw wide asunder the 
folded doors of their mind, it must embrace them now. 
For what law do they discern ? There is none to divorce 
them, from the maternal arms. And if there w T ere, instinct 
hath no spiritual speculation in its eyes. It is the apostle, 
who says, " Every one that useth milk is unskilful in the 
word of righteousness ; for he is a babe." What law in- 
deed is there addressed to them, requiring an action mental 
or corporeal, moral or religious ? By what solar micro- 
scope, shall I descry it ? Evidently there can be none-. 
They are unconscious of life. All their movements are 
mechanical. They are the subjects of no personal com- 
mand, admonition, or exhortation. And rebelling against 
no law, having nothing sinful about them, save the Adam- 
ick nature, which is imputed to no mortal in the absence 
of law, it is the worst of insanity to consign them to the 
vengeance of eternal fire. Do they perish in infancy or 
under the age of discretion ? As certainly as they have 
been baptized into the death of Christ, so certainly will 
they be partakers of his resurrection. 

And I speak of their being baptized, only to make 
surety doubly sure, and because, when there- are many 
christians to insist upon its necessity, it is presumption to 
withhold them from occupying the safe side of a debated 
question, and the dictate of prudence to place them there. 
If I had control over millions of their number, I would 
not so rely upon my own convictions, as to venture to de- 
prive one of them of the antitype of that rite, which all in- 



SERMON XI. 



131 



fant males among the Jews underwent, which was even 
celebrated in the spotless anomaly of the infant Jesus. 

Some of you may say, that personal faith is requisite 
prior to baptism, that Philip only baptized the eunuch, upon 
his professing to believe with all his heart. But this is 
confounding adults with infants, and is contrary to the anal- 
ogy of faith. Upon this principle, you place yourselves 
in the awkward predicament of condemning the eighth 
day circumcision of the olden time. Had you lived ante- 
riour to the coming of Christ, you must, notwithstanding 
the divine command, have vehemently denounced it, as a 
miserable caricature, a burlesque upon heart religion. 
For what spiritual rank does baptism claim over circum- 
cision, apart from its connexion with a nobler dispensation ? 
None ; their relative rank, is precisely the same. Both have 
the outward sign, both the inward grace. The work of 
faith and of the heart is as much involved in the one as in 
the other. If ye doubt it, let me be favoured with a spe- 
cimen of your views pertaining to baptism, which shall 
excel in spirituality this never to be forgotton exegesis of 
Paul, " He is not a Jew which is one outwardly ; neither 
is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh ; but he 
is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcisi ^n is that of 
the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter ; whose praise 
is not of men, but of God." 

And did Paul discourse thus of a rite, divinely imposed 
in the case of infants ? Notwithstanding this imposition, 
did he positively affirm, that it was " of the heart, in the 
spirit, and not in the letter ; whose praise is not of men, 
but of God V Within three verses, and under these cir- 
cumstances, did he also say, " circumcision verily profiteth, 
if thou keep the law ; but if thou be a breaker of the law, 
thy circumcision is made uncircumcision f Who art 
thou, to deny baptism to infants, on the pretext of its being 
more of the heart, in the spirit, and of God than circum- 
cision ? Who art thou, at the next move, to depreciate 
it below circumcision, by asserting that it is utterly un- 
profitable, when celebrated upon them, so much so as to 
readminister it in riper years ? Certainly, beloved breth- 
ren, ye do here grope about in a labyrynfh of contradic 
tions, from which by no legitimate train of reasoning can 
ye be extricated. At one moment, baptism towers above, 



132 



SERMON XI. 



at another, it is buried beneath, circumcision. If ye credit 
Paul in one place, to be consistent with your existing 
views, ye must inveigh against infant circumcision. If ye 
believe him in another, the confession must be made that it 
verily profited before the law could be broken. If ye 
will not so inveigh and do consent to such confession, why 
then ye have not remaining so much as a foothold, on 
which to poise yourselves ; ye must recant the antipedo- 
baptist creed ; ye must admit, that it is no good cause of 
estrangement from the church ; ye must rejoice in infant 
baptism, as the only visible mode in which the nurslings of 
the flock can approach the Redeemer's arms, and no longer 
rebuke those who bring them, lest adhering to his disciples' 
errour, ye incur a far severer censure ; " When Jesus saw 
it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the 
little children to come unto me, and forbid them not ; for 
of such is the kingdom of God." 

Still however, I cannot believe, that any detriment will 
follow them into another world, owing to the dogmatick 
errour of a sect, or the culpable negligence of any parent. 
Often, when too late for their own peace of mind, have 
the bereaved stood sorrowing on the margin of the grave 
of their little ones, and sorrowed the more, because they 
suffered them to depart hence, uninitiated into the church 
of the living God. And when the ministers of Jesus have 
mourned with them that mourned, and wept with them that 
wept, when they have sought to breathe the word of con- 
solation in the trembling ear, yet has it failed to reach the 
aching heart. No oil of comfort has allayed the burning 
anguish there. To their last hour, some hapless parents 
have grieved over the wrongs of the infant dead. Time 
could not heal the self inflicted wound. The only effec- 
tual bandage was the winding sheet. 

To contribute my humble aid in averting such calamity, 
ere it again blights and withers a father's or a mother's 
peace, I therefore raise my warning voice. On little 
children Jesus once laid his benignant hands and blessed 
them. And though long since ascended to his Father's 
throne, though long since invisible to mortal eyes, his 
arm is not shortened, that it cannot reach them at the bap- 
tismal font ; his tongue is not paralyzed, that it cannot 



SERMON XI. 133 

now shower down on little children, gathered there, 
blessings on the right hand and blessings on the left. 

And yet, where they do expire, unbaptized with water, 
in my judgment, the lamentation of parents may be very 
profitably regulated, by the admonition of our Saviour to 
those who " bewailed and lamented him", on his way to 
Calvary. " Jesus, turning unto them, said, Daughters of 
Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and 
for your children," that is, living children. A sin has un- 
doubtedly been committed ; but not by the unconscious babe, 
fallen asleep in Jesus, and sweetly reposing on its lap of 
earth. Its listening ear was never saluted with the com- 
mand, " arise and be baptized." It broke no law. It needs 
not remission for sins uncommitted. All of guilt attaches 
to those, whose duty it was to bring the young child to 
Christ. And let this consideration relieve them from all 
anxiety about the future welfare of the dead. I do not 
find, that the Lord was angry with the uncircumcised son 
of Moses, on account of parental disobedience. The fa- 
ther himself was the object of just displeasure. For omit- 
ting his duty, in the peculiar phraseology of the bible, " it 
came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met 
him, and sought to kill him." His anger was only ap- 
peased by instant obedience. 

Sorrow therefore, ye bereaved, not for the departed, but 
for yourselves, and sin no more. " Godly sorrow worketh 
repentance to salvation, not to be repented of." Though ye 
may not disturb the grave nor apply sacramental water to 
the clay cold brow, yet, if ye have surviving children, 
ye may dedicate them to the Lord in his holy ordi- 
nance, and become partakers of the heavenly beati- 
tudes ; " Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, 
and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man, to 
whom the Lord will not impute sin." Where it is im- 
practicable to repair a specifick errour, as to restore the 
life of the slain, there contrition, through Christ, has the 
effect of blotting out the record of human transgression. 

But I must not leave this deeply interesting theme, with- 
out producing still stronger proof of the everlasting felicity 
of all who die in the morning of life. If an exception could 
be found in the scriptures, we might look for it in the in- 
stance of that child of David, which was emphatically con- 



134 



SERMON XI. 



ceived in sin ; which was the product of the complicated 
crimes of adultery and murder ; against whose life the 
Lord issued his sure decree, as a just punishment inflicted 
on its guilty parents ; and whose death occurred on the 
seventh day of its age, being the day before ti.e rite of cir- 
cumcision could be performed. All of you must remem- 
ber the history of the event, succeeding as it does the para- 
ble of the poor man and his little ewe lamb, so kindly 
nourished and so fondly loved. When the annunciation 
of the prophet was made, " the child also that is born unto 
thee shall surely die," David's grief was inconsolable. 
Earnestly did he beseech the Lord to spare his new-born 
son, then enduring the extremity of sickness. He fasted 
and wept. He threw himself upon the bare earth, and, 
continuing all night in that prostrate, forlorn condition, 
refused all the relief, affectionately tendered by the elders 
of his house. But when the child was dead, he forthwith 
left his recumbent posture, washed and anointed himself, 
changed his apparel, visited the house of the Lord, and, 
having worshipped, returned to his own house, required 
bread to be set before him, and did eat. Astonished at this 
conduct, his servants inquired the cause. " And he said, 
while the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, 
who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the 
child may live ? But now he is dead ; wherefore should I 
fast ? Can I bring him back again ? I shall go to him, but 
he shall not return to mc." 

In this wonderful change and explanation, ye may there- 
fore clearly perceive the consolation he derived from the 
certainty of thereafter meeting his beloved child in the man- 
sions of blessedness. His own sin was forgiven. His 
son, though uncircumcised, had no sins, demanding so much 
as the tear of an angel to blot them out forever. And 
hence the comfort he indulged ; hence the sudden transi- 
tion from a state of lamentation and mourning to one of 
pious resignation and inspiring hope. If ye believe that 
holy David will be found among the redeemed in Zion, 
there must the child also be ; "I shall go to him, but he 
shall not return to me." If ye prefer to think, that these 
words relate to the grave, I answer, that in the grave 
there is " no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wis- 
dom," to convert it into a receptacle, adapted to the reunion 



SERMON XI. 



135 



of beloved friends and kindred dear. If ye want incon- 
trovertible evidence, that the spirit of the father was cheer- 
ed with the consciousness of a far nobler reunion within 
the precincts of paradise, I have it in my power to place 
it beyond the shadow of a doubt. 

David had another son, proficient in all manner of iniqui- 
ty. He was a fratricide and incestuous. Stealing away 
the hearts of the people, he became a traitor to his father's 
throne, and sought his life. And was he taken away in 
the midst of his guilty rebellion ? Did he perish by the 
hand of Joab, and go down suddenly into the dust of death 1 
What means the irrepressible, overwhelming sorrow of 
David, when the tidings came to his ears ? "The king 
was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the 
gate and wept ; and as he went, thus he said, O my son 
Absalom ! my son, my son Absalom ! would God 1 had 
died for thee, O Absalom my son, my son." Ay, brethren, 
what means this irrepressible, overwhelming sorrow 1 
Absalom had gone to the grave, as well as the infant son. 
Why then did not David take comfort in the reflection of 
ultimately meeting him there, provided it was the source 
of comfort, in the preceding bereavement ? I need not 
press you to a reply. The true cause of the afflicted fath- 
er's altered deportment admits not of two opinions. Know- 
ing the innocence of his little child, he could anticipate the 
happiness of a long eternity to be shared with him. Con- 
scious, that Absalom had died an impenitent sinner, he was 
too fatally persuaded, that the separation between them 
was final ; that the departed reprobate, however dearly 
loved, would be seen no more, was lost and undone forev- 
er. On these accounts, weeping in the one case was soon 
exchanged for rejoicing ; in the other, the wail of sorrow 
was audible and prolonged, he wept as though his head 
were waters and his eyes a fountain of tears. 

And if all this does not satisfy you of the universal luture 
felicity of departed infants ; if ye will still rely upon some 
metaphysical subtlety to sustain you in the horrid belief, 
as some have believed, that the smoke of their torment 
ascendeth for ever and ever, my last recourse shall be to 
those monitory lessons of our Saviour Christ ; " Take 
heed, that ye despise not one of these little ones. For I 
say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold 



136 



SERMON XI. 



the face of my Father which is in heaven. For the Son 
of man is come to save that which was lost." " It is not 
the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of 
these little ones should perish." 

Nor does the doctrine of these discourses necessarily 
involve the heathen, in the pains and penalties of eternal 
death. Often indeed have I heard it made a serious objec- 
tion to the necessity of baptism, that it debars them from 
the possibility of being saved, inasmuch as the sacrament 
is unknown to them. But if this argument be entitled to 
the slightest credit, it operates with equal force against all 
the peculiarities of the christian faith. We must not even 
insist that belief in Jesus and evangelical repentance from 
dead works to serve the living God are essential to the in- 
heritance of the saints in light ; since they are also un- 
known to the heathen ; they are as ignorant of Jesus and 
the gospel as they are of baptism. On no such foundation 
of sand, can I therefore consent to b uild up the hope of their 
having part in the common salvation. When the rains 
descend and the floods overflow, it crumbles from beneath 
the feet, and plunges them into the abyss of destruction. 
My confidence is erected upon something more stable and 
secure. I hope to show you, on the authority of the sa- 
cred volume, that there is no valid reason for denying to 
the pagan world the possibility of working out their salva- 
tion with fear and trembling. 

It is to be gathered, in the first place, from the case of 
the centurion, who came to Jesus, at Capernaum. He 
was neither a Jew nor a disciple of our Lord. A Roman 
soldier, he had been educated in the Roman superstition, 
and, so far as it appears, had not the most distant convic- 
tion, that the humble Galilean preached a gospel, which 
was the power of God unto salvation to every one that 
believed. He came to him, a suitor for temporal not for 
eternal life. Attracted by the fame of his wonderful mira- 
cles, and having assured himself that the reality even tran- 
scended the rumour, he personally accosted our Saviour 
in this manner, " Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of 
the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto 
him, I will come and heal him." But the centurion, though 
clothed with authority, was of an humble spirit, and could 
not persuade himself of his being worthy to entertain under 



SERMON XI. 137 

his roof, a guest possessed of such pre-eminent endow- 
ments. More than this, the centurion was sufficiently 
acute to perceive, that there could he no limit to such pow- 
ers, as those which Christ exhibited, and, in perfect confi- 
dence of being right, put his whole heart into the petition, 
" speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed." 
And " when Jesus heard it, he marvelled." Long as he 
had walked about in Judea doing good, from the lips of no 
Israelite had he heard fall such full and entire conviction of 
his preternatural ability to heal diseases. It drew from him, 
the unrivalled encomium, to which I have before adverted, 
" Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, 
no, not in Israel." 

And does not all this speak volumes in favour of this pa- 
gan soldier, that his heart was right in the sight of God ? 
Does it not convince you, that if Jesus had embraced the 
occasion of opening to him the gospel of our redemption, 
he would have received it into an honest and good heart, 
with the same sincere and undoubting confidence, that he 
did the subsequent direction, " Go thy way ; and as thou 
hast believed, so be it done unto thee ?" Not one single in- 
stant does my mind waver in coming to this conclusion. 
Not a particle of hesitation have I in believing, that, heath- 
en as he was, he existed, at this instant, with his sins for- 
given and his redemption sealed, when the great majority 
of the Jews had yet to make their calling and election sure. 
And should ye refuse to indorse an opinion so frank and 
explicit, the commentary of Jesus on the whole transac- 
tion ought to remove all scruple and doubtfulness from the 
believer's mind ; " I say unto you, that many shall come 
from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, 
and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the 
children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer dark- 
ness ; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 

The salvation of some of the heathen is also to be infer- 
red, in the second place, from the strong terms of commen- 
dation, bestowed upon " a certain man in Cesarea, called 
Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band." 
Whatever may be said of his fellow soldier, whose case 
has been discussed, it must be the grossest ignorance to 
deny him the heathen character, at the time of his receiv- 
ing this sure testimony of the integrity of his heart. By 

12 



138 



SER M ON XI. 



the inspired penman, he is described as a devout man, and 
one that feared God with all his house, which gave much 
alms to the people, and prayed to God alway." In his 
ear, the angel said, " Thy prayers and thine alms are 
come up for a memorial before God." Here then is an en- 
tire household of the gentiles, including master and servants, 
with " a devout soldier," who were living in the divine 
fear and enjoying the divine benediction. Even Peter, the 
apostle of the circumcision and once blamed by Paul for 
leaning too much to the exoterick doctrine of his country- 
men ; even Peter acknowledged to this little band of good 
and faithful men, " Ye know how that it is an unlawful 
thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come 
unto one of another nation ; but God hath showed me that 
I should not call any man common or unclean." And 
again, " Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of 
persons ; but in every nation, he, that feareth him and 
worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." 

Finally, brethren, the reasoning of Paul and his express 
declarations must be deemed perfectly conclusive on this 
ill debated subject. He affirms, that God " will render to 
every man according to his deeds. To them who, by pa- 
tient continuance in well doing, seek for glory, and honour, 
and immortality ; eternal life. But unto them that are 
contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unright- 
eousness ; indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, 
upon every soul of man that doth evil, of the Jew first, 
and also of the gentile : But glory, honour, and peace to 
every man that worketh good, to the Jew first and also to 
the gentile." Nor does he forget to assign the reason. 
" For there is no respect of persons with God." He even 
proceeds to institute a comparison between such as were 
denied, and those who enjoyed, the privileges of the Jewish 
dispensation, and on either side deduces the impartial judg- 
ment, "As many as have sinned without law shall also 
perish without law ; and as many as have sinned in the 
law shall be judged by the law ; for not the hearers of the 
law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be 
justified." 

Some persons indeed may fancy, that this last passage 
is at variance with what has been often urged in these dis- 
courses, since the gentiles are spoken of, as sinning with- 



SERMON XI. 



139 



out law and perishing without law. But the apostle 
immediately explains his meaning, and shows that the 
written law alone is here referred to, while that which 
was unwritten, and was stamped upon the hearts and con- 
sciences of men, still maintained its authority, still made 
them the subjects of moral obligation. These are his 
words ; " For when the gentiles, which have not the 
law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, 
having not the law, are a law unto themselves, which show 
the work of the law written in their hearts, their con- 
science also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean 
while accusing or else excusing one another." 

The heathen then are under a law as much as we are. 
The only difference consists in the number of the respect- 
ive provisions, and the relative quantum of light. Theirs 
is limited and dimly seen. Oars is expanded and brilliant- 
ly developed. Their conscience is only made sensitive to 
the moral virtues and vices. Our conscience is or should 
be alive to all gospel injunctions and prohibitions. They 
will not be condemned for the want of faith in Jesus, for the 
absence of sacramental obedience, for not relying upon the 
blood of the atonement to cleanse them from all repented 
sin, long as these things are unknown to them. On our 
heads alone can the guilt of disobedience in these particulars 
justly descend. We either do or ought to know them, for 
voluntary, is to be carefully distinguished from invincible, 
ignorance ; and to us attaches in its full force the mem- 
orable scripture ; "To him that knoweth to do good, and 
doth it not, to him it is sin." But they, who, by the provir 
dence of God, are deprived of such illumination, they are 
amenable to the law of conscience alone, accusing or else 
excusing them, persuading to the moral virtues and dis- 
suading from the moral vices. This is their theology, 
written by the finger of the living God on fleshly tables of 
the heart, and by keeping of this they may obtain an inter- 
est in the merits and the mediation of Christ. According 
to Paul ; " If the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of 
the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circum- 
cision ? And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, 
if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who, by the letter and cir- 
cumcision, dost transgress the law V 

My object is accomplished. If all these scriptures do 



140 



SERMON XI. 



not successfully establish the position, that the heathen may 
live piously and righteously, so as to be saved for Christ's 
sake, it would be vain to attempt to prove any thing by 
means of a volume, which would then rival the Delphick 
oracle for the ambiguity of its predictions. But while we 
firmly maintain the possibility of their salvation, their 
whole history, as given by the apostle in his epistle to the 
Romans, but too fatally evinces, that far the larger number 
were given over to a reprobate mind. And I know not 
that the modern heathen are in a more favourable condi- 
tion. The gospel of Christ can alone bring them in mul- 
titudes to fulfil the law of .righteousness. And let the gos- 
pel be widely disseminated and effectually preached among 
them. So shall they repair in triumph to the Redeemer's 
standard ; so shall our own indigenous infidelity be brought 
by the odour of such evangelical demonstrations, from 
darkness into marvellous light. 

Do thou, therefore, " O merciful God, who hast made 
all men and hatest nothing that thou hast made, nor desir- 
est the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be con- 
verted and live, have mercy upon all Jews, Turks, infidels, 
and hereticks, and take from them all ignorance, hardness 
of heart, and contempt of thy word : And so fetch them 
home, blessed Lord, to thy flock, that they may be saved 
among the remnant of the true Israelites, and be made one 
fold under one Shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, who 
liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God. 
world without end." Amen. 



SERMON XI I. 



ISAIAH Lxir. 1. 

for zion's sake will i wot hold my peace, and foll 
Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETH. 

I have already had occasion to state, that my present 
object is not to vindicate the apostolicity of the episcopal 
church. Proof to that effect has been long since given to 
the world, not only from my humble pen, but from a ga- 
laxy of worthies, whose praise will endure, throughout the 
boundaries of Zion and Jerusalem, until the church mili- 
tant shall lose all its interest in the brighter glories of the 
church triumphant. 

To what purpose then am I devoting these pages ? In the 
first place, brethren, I have endeavoured to exhibit the im- 
mense importance of a divinely authorized ministry, by ad- 
ducing what is usually considered a species of evidence the 
most difficult to invalidate, the former admissions of the par- 
ty materially concerned to propagate another opinion, if 
that opinion were tenable. In the second place ; Enter- 
ing into an elementary examination of the essentials of re- 
ligion, and proving that all things are essential to be done 
which are commanded, and to be left undone which are 
forbidden, I have grappled with some long prevailing er- 
rours, and, as I trust in God, have effectually exposed the 
miserably lax and lawless system of faith and practice, 
which has become so extensively popular in these degen- 
erate days. 

To agree with me, in both particulars, does not howev- 
er necessarily involve an abandonment of the churches, to 
which you still cling, in some instances with a wavering. 
12* 



142 



SERMON XII, 



and in others with an unabated, attachment. Strange as 
it may seem, it does not even appear to be conclusive with 
many of your number, that, the proved church of the gospel 
is binding upon the modern believer of the gospel. Thou- 
sands on thousands admit all this, who yet contrive to keep 
aloof from her pale, on the ground of its being a non-essen- 
tial. But if the preceding argument be altogether scriptu- 
ral in conception, and scriptural in the results to which it 
arrives, I hope to show you, on the like good foundation, 
that the church of the gospel is a permanent and unchange- 
able institution ; that no one has a right to repudiate it, for 
some one of the numerous witty inventions of men ; and 
that whoever does, especially if his eyes be opened and his 
judgment convinced, boldly faces a peril and incurs a re- 
sponsibility, which no wise man wisely encounters. 

Is it true then, that the scriptures furnish plenary evi- 
dence, that the christian church, with its three fold ministry 
of apostle or bishop, of presbyter or elder, and of deacon, 
is built upon an immutable and not a mutable basis ? I do 
not "think that this question has been as thoroughly discuss- 
ed, as the untoward progress of dissent would long since 
have abundantly justified. Most persons have been induced 
to rely upon the fact of its apostolick origin, as ail suffi- 
cient to establish the inviolability of" the pillar and ground 
of the truth." Such, as ye have heard, was my own case. 
But the new stand, very frequently taken on this vexed top- 
ick, imposes an additional labour on the faithful servant of 
Christ. What was before imperfectly brought to view 
bids fair to become the very gist of the controversy. It de- 
mands a clear and comprehensive investigation. The in- 
quiry at the commencement of this paragraph, I do not 
hesitate to answer in the affirmative ; and, inviting a can- 
did attention to the proof, have only to request you to bear 
in mind, what one of the most distinguished of your clergy, 
the late doctor Romeyn, acknowledged in relation to the 
inseparability of the priesthood from the church. " Re- 
move this ministry, and you have good people left, real be- 
lievers ; but yon have no visible church, no publick fellow- 
ship of the saints : For you have no preaching of the 
word, no administration of the sacraments, no exercise of 
discipline, since these duties are committed to the minis- 
try." 



SERMON XII. 143 

What then. I ask, was the constitution of the Jewish 
church and hierarchy ? Were they permanent and un- 
changeable, long as the dispensation remained ; until God 
himself, in the employment of his rightful prerogative, put 
a period to its existence 1 He must be very bold, who 
shall venture to gainsay a fact, susceptible as this of the 
most complete demonstration. You have seen that the 
office of the high priest Aaron, soon became the glittering 
prize, to which Korah, Dathan, and Abiram directed their 
longing eyes. Fain would they have usurped its station, 
and divided the power among them. But destruction came 
upon them suddenly, for the madness of their project. 
They " went down alive into the pit f " they and all that 
appertained to them," " their wives, their sons, and their 
little children,*' 3 " their houses," " and all their goods." 

Even such of the laity, as joined in their enterprise, were 
not suffered to escape with life. " Two hundred and fifty 
princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men 
of renown," " took every man his censer, and put fire in 
them, and laid incense thereon." And for this their presump- 
tion, for this now common offence of seeking and execu- 
ting the priesthood without divine authority, " there came 
out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred 
and fifty men that offered incense." Nay, when the peo- 
ple " murmured against Moses and against Aaron " for 
these summary inflictions, " saying, ye have killed the peo- 
ple of the Lord, there went out wrath from the Lord," and 
it required an atonement to put an end to the frightful rav- 
ages of the plague which ensued. " They that died in the 
plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred." By this 
terrible chastisement, did the Almighty vindicate the integ- 
rity of his priesthood. Aaron was alone entitled to the 
office of high priest, and his descendants after him. The 
males of the tribe of Levi were alone empowered to dis- 
charge the subordinate sacerdotal duties. 

Passing over the melancholy fate of him, who, for inad- 
vertently putting his hand to the ark of God, was visited 
with instant death, because this unintentional performance 
of an act, only permitted to the priesthood, has before oc- 
cupied your attention, I hasten, brethren, to a rapid sur- 
vey of another and a more durable schism, in the Jewish 
church. I allude to that which grew out of the civil dis- 



144 SERMON XII. 

sensions, terminating in the establishment of the separate 
kingdoms of Judah and Israel. The new monarchy was 
approved of God. His own words were, " this thing is 
from me/' But was it thus with the novel hierarchy in- 
troduced by Jeroboam, the recently confirmed king of. Is- 
rael ? Extremely jealous of the loyalty of his subjects, he 
had reasoned with himself after this manner ; " If this peo- 
ple go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jenv 
salem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto 
their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they 
shall kill me." Whereupon in imitation of the golden 
cherubim of the tabernacle, and of those placed by Solo- 
mon in the temple, overlaid with gold, " the king took coun- 
sel and made two calves of gold," calling them gods, set- 
ting up the one at Bethel, the other at Dan. "And he 
made a house of high places, and made priests of the low- 
est of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi." 
Fully was he determined, through the combined medium 
of new cherubim, new altars, new temples, new priests, and 
new feasts, to rival Judah and Jerusalem in the splendour 
of divine worship, though it were at the cost of making it 
schismatick on the one hand, and, to say the least, semi- 
idolatrous on the other. 

And did the Almighty sanction this imaginary improve- 
ment upon the heavenly pattern ? Did he commend this 
new-fangled worship and hierarchy, with their accompani- 
ments ? No such thing. He sent his messenger to Eethel 
to destroy the altar erected there. By the w T ord of the 
Lord, it was rent asunder, its ashes were scattered abroad, 
and the hand of Jeroboam, who burned incense thereon, 
was dried up and withered, for attempting to preserve it. 
The king was so sensiblv struck with his misconduct, that 
he solicited the man of God to entreat the Lord to repair 
the calamity which had befallen him. Upon this mediation 
alone, his " hand was restored him again, and became as it 
was before." But alas i the schismatick spirit, when once 
enthroned within the hearts of the sons of men, is not given 
to relinquish its empire without the severest struggle. If 
any of you are tempted to believe, that the non-Ievitica! 
priesthood of a single order, created by the king of Israel, 
constituted the smallest part of his offence, it must greatly 
surprise you to find, that when he renewed his unauthorized 



SERMON XII. 



145 



ministrations, it was the only crime directly and specifically 
charged upon him. " After this thing Jeroboam returned 
not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the 
people, priests of the high places ; whosoever would, he 
consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the 
high places. And this thing became sin unto the house of 
Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the 
face of the earth." 

But Jeroboam, it will be said, was eminently wicked 
in his day and generation. We insist upon an instance, 
in which the invasion of the ecclesiastical office shall be 
more analogous to the alleged modern invasion. We in- 
sist upon the example of some good man, on whom this 
guilt shall have been chargeable, and due punishment in- 
flicted. W ell, brethren, from the Jewish records, I can 
gratify you in this particular, if a gratification it can be 
called. Uzziah was one of those kings of Judah, of whom 
honourable mention is made in the word of the Lord. 
For " he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, 
according to all that his father Amaziah did. And he 
sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understand- 
ing in the visions of God, and as long as he sought the 
Lord, God made him to prosper." 

Nor can ye reasonably demand higher praise, in a com- 
pass equally limited. Of the good kings, Asa, Hezekiah, 
and Josiah, it is written, that they " did that which was 
right in the sight of the Lord." And in the case of Uzziah, 
is there a termination set to his seeking of the Lord, and 
to his being smiled upon by this re warder of them that do 
well ? Never, no never should it be suffered to escape our 
remembrance, that this very termination is identical, in 
point of time, with his usurpation of the sacred office. 
"As long as he sought the Lord, God made him to pros- 
per." In war and in peace, in husbandry and in all inter- 
nal concerns, as well as in religion, he was " marvellously 
helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, his 
heart was lifted up to his destruction. For he transgressed 
against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the 
Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense." 

In vain did the chief priest Azariah and fourscore other 
priests follow his footsteps and withstand him to his face. 
In vain did they remonstrate with him, and maintain, that 



146 



SERMON XII. 



" to burn incense unto the Lord" belonged only " to the 
priests, the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn in- 
cense." In vain did they command him to " go out of the 
sanctuary ; for thou hast transgressed, neither shall it be 
for thine honour from the Lord God." Opposition, remon- 
strance, and command had no effect upon this man, so 
highly elated with the conviction of his sacerdotal capabil- 
ities, his supposed special calling and wonderfully spiritual 
prerequisites. All, all was lost upon him. Anger began 
to increase the blindness of his vision. The more firmly 
did he grasp the censer in his unlicensed hand. The Lord 
himself must interfere, before the wretched enthusiast can 
recover his senses. " While he was wroth with the priests, 
the leprosy even rose up in his forehead." Defiling as he 
did the house of the Lord, " they thrust him out from 
thence ; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the 
Lord had smitten him." For his presumption, he remain- 
ed an incurable " leper unto the day of his death." 

And now brethren, permit me to tell you, that these few 
cases establish, beyond all reasonable controversy, the 
perfect inviolability of the Jewish church and hierarchy. 
Lofty pretensions were not equivalent to divine investiture. 
The piety of Aaron, though an admirable qualification for 
his high station, did not authorize him to execute its func- 
tions. He must first be called and anointed of God. This 
call it was, and nothing else, which put the seal of validity 
on all his acts. Otherwise, they would have been as void 
and rebellious as were the acts of Korah and his company, 
of Jeroboam and Uzziah. But justified by the heavenly 
commission, his ministry proved a blessing to all who 
faithfully kept the commandments of God. He was a 
temporal mediator and intercessor, whose atoning sacrifi- 
ces for sin, typical of the Lamb slain from before the foun- 
dation of the world, and deriving all their virtue from that 
source, went up as a sweet smelling savour, acceptable to 
God, and propitiating the answer of pardon and peace. 
But of all ecclesiastical usurpers, whether they appropria- 
ted to themselves the high priesthood or an inferiour dignity, 
the Most High was exceeding jealous ; he visited them 
with his sore displeasure ; he either caused their beauty to 
consume away like as it were a moth fretting a garment, 
or with more fatal celerity arrested their impious career. 



SERMON XII. 



147 



Remarkable indeed is the fact, that while fifteen hun- 
dred years intervened between the giving of the law and 
the advent of Christ, during that long protracted period, no 
change whatever, pertaining to the Jewish hierarchy, was 
divinely authorized. All its offices existed at his birth ; 
all were recognised during his ministry. After curing a 
man of his leprosy, " Jesus saith unto him, see thou tell no 
man ; but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer 
the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony unto them." 
As if his own vicarious atonement, the offering up of him- 
self once for all, were ineffectual unless consummated in 
the holy city, his declaration was, " it cannot be that a 
prophet perish out of Jerusalem." As if that precious 
sacrifice could only be legalized by the official determina- 
tion of the high priest, from his lips the memorable predic- 
tion proceeded, " It is expedient for us, that one man should 
die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. 
And this spake he not of himself, but being high priest that 
year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation." 
Though it was " not lawful for" the Jews " to put any 
man to death," yet did Christ ,£ show unto his disciples, how 
that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of 
the elders, and chief priests, and scribes, and be killed ;" — 
yet was it before Caiaphas, that he was accused, tried, and 
condemned for blasphemy ; " the high priest rent his 
clothes, saying, he hath spoken blasphemy ; what further 
need have we of witnesses ? behold now ye have heard his 
blasphemy ! What think ye ? They answered and said, 
he is guilty of death ;" — yet was this ecclesiastick the virtu- 
al human sacrificer at the cross ; Pilate declared, " I find 
no fault in him :" " he took water and washed his hands 
before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of 
this just person when he spoke of his power, as a Roman 
magistrate, to crucify or to release, evidently desirous of 
effecting the latter, the answer of Jesus clearly points out 
the high priest as the presiding genius, on the mount of 
Calvary, " Thou couldst have no power at all against me, 
except it were given thee from above ; therefore he that 
delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin." 

So fully, so incontrovertibly, do I then prove to you, 
brethren, the permanency of that church, which was con- 
fessedly the type of our christian Zion. And is the anti- 



148 



SERMON XII. 



type thereof less stable, less indestructible ? Is it really 
given up to be modelled and remodelled, in entire subser- 
viency to human volition and human caprice ? Is it to be 
tolerated that the christian priesthood is so decidedly infe- 
riour and contemptible, in comparison of the Jewish, that 
it may be assumed, ad libitum, by any body and every 
body, when all encroachment upon the latter was signally 
and effectually punished ? I can subscribe to no such doc- 
trine. It is not revealed upon the sacred page. All things 
Jewish were but the " shadow of good things to come." 
And the ministry does not form an exception to the apos- 
tolick rule. Our high priest Christ, though trampled upon 
in the days of his flesh by the Mosaick incumbent, is not 
to be trampled upon with impunity, now that it is written, 
" him hath God exalted with his right hand, to be a Prince 
and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgive- 
ness of sins." Our apostolick ministers, though not " suffi- 
cient for these things," though they " have this treasure in 
earthen vessels," do still come behind the house of Aaron in 
no one good thing ; they rather transcend it in dignity, and 
honour, and perpetuity, in the proportion " Jesus was made 
surety of a better testament," " that the excellency of the 
power may be of God, and not of us." We claim nothing 
on our own account, no merit, no perfection. It is on 
Christ alone that we build. It is his ministry alone that we 
eulogize. " He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." 

No one indeed can deny the perpetual tenure, by which 
Jesus is sustained as the grand hierarch of the christian 
church. Accoiding to the psalmist, " the Lord hath sworn 
and will not repent, Thou art a priest forever after the 
order of Melchizedeck." And four times does the apostle 
to the Hebrews reiterate the declaration. He even insti- 
tutes a comparison, between the old priesthood and the 
new, greatly in favour of the latter. The old sprang from 
Aaron, and though honoured with a duration of near two 
millenaries was still limited to that extent. The new had 
its origin in " Melchizedeck, king of Salem, priest of the 
most high God," who being " made like unto the Son of 
God, abideth a priest continually." The very circum- 
stance of its being changed proves the old to have been 
imperfect. Paul's argument is, " If therefore perfection 
were by the levitical priesthood, for under it the people 



SERMON XII. 



149 



received the law, what further need was there that anoth- 
er 1 priest should rise after the order of Melchizedeck, and 
not be called after the order of Aaron V But the perfec- 
tion of the new consists in the fact of its high priest being 
" made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but 
after the power of an endless life." " For the law made 
nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, 
by the which we draw nigh unto God." 

The old was also broken in upon by the mortal sum- 
mons, reaching the life of its head ; " They truly were 
many priests, because they were not suffered to continue 
by reason of death." Whereas "the apostle and high 
priest of our profession," though his authorized ambassa- 
dors d ie, supplies that imperfection in his own person, and, 
" because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priest- 
hood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the utter- 
most that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to 
make intercession for them." " For the law maketh men 
high priests which have infirmity ; but the word of the 
oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is 
consecrated for evermore." 

Where then is he, who, after the perusal of such unim- 
peachable testimony, shall venture to question the inalien- 
able and transcendently glorious character of the evangel- 
ical priesthood ? By no inductive process of reasoning, 
can he succeed. The facts are all against him. What 
the apostle exalts above, he cannot humble beneath, the 
Aaronick order. The changeable and changed cannot 
outvie the " unchangeable priesthood ;" the imperfect can- 
not surpass the perfect. If it were at the peril of instant 
death, that numbers attempted to revolutionize the former, 
can they be adjudged perfectly blameless, can they reason- 
ably hope to be saved entirely harmless, who, notwith- 
standing the terrour of such examples, have actually revo- 
lutionized a large part of the vineyard belonging to the 
latter, have introduced a new and illegitimate ministry, 
and broken down the consecrated wall of partition be- 
tween the shepherd and his flock ? No idle interrogation 
is this. If the premises be granted, on which it is founded, 
or, what is the same thing, if they cannot be successfully 
assailed, it should fasten itself upon the conscience of every 
reader, probing it through and through, until such an' an- 
13 



150 



SERMON XII. 



swer be prepared as shall effectually promote the interests 
of the Redeemer's kingdom. My own conviction is, that 
it is the high priesthood of Christ, which alone gives char- 
acter to its subordinate offices. If it be unchangeable, 
they are stamped with the same attribute. Men may die ; 
but apostles, presbyters, and deacons continue, long as 
sanctuaries and sanctuary ministrations continue. 

I cannot however consent to suffer so important a point 
to disappear in this inferential way. It is susceptible of 
direct and incontrovertible proof, and that proof must not 
-be withheld. Listen, brethren, to the declarations of Christ 
after the resurrection, and when he imparted, or rather 
confirmed, to the eleven faithful companions of his mortal 
pilgrimage, the ministry of reconciliation. " Peace be unto 
you, as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And 
when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto 
them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost ; whose soever sins, ye 
remit, they are remitted unto them ; and whose soever 
sins ye retain, they are retained." Could any thing be 
more solemn, sacred, and divine ? Does this look like the 
conferring of a gift evanescent as their lives, and destined 
in future times to be conveyed without a single prescribed 
prerequisite on the part of the conveyor ? No improba- 
bility could be greater, no conjecture more absurd. He, 
who was sent by the Father, and whose high prerogative 
it was to wield " an unchangeable priesthood," in order to 
send others as he was sent, must impress upon their priest- 
hood the like indelible character. Else would the missions 
be entirely variant. His ministry would last forever. 
Theirs would not survive the fleeting breath. They could 
not transmit it to others. The church would be left with- 
out officers, and so situated, it were an empty name. 

But examine the record of their proceeding's, and no such 
fatality occurred, They did not imagine themselves pos- 
sessed of endowments, which they were to hoard up, as 
the parsimonious hoard their gold. They rather early or- 
dained one to be a witness with them of the resurrection of 
Jesus. And to what did they ordain him ? Was it to the 
same or to another ministry? Did they send as they were, 
or as they were, not sent ? The appointment was to be 
given to Joseph or Matthias ; " and they prayed and said, 
" Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show 



.SERMON XII. 



151 



whether of these two thou hast chosen, that he may take 
part of this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by 
transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. And 
they gave forth their lots ; and the lot fell upon Matthias; 
and he was numbered with the eleven apostles." 

Comment is needless. So evidently does this transac- 
tion verify the doctrine of an unchangeable priesthood, 
that some of the partisans of dissent, in their excessive 
zeal, have boldly charged the apostles with transcending 
their authority in the elevation of Matthias to the station 
vacated by the fall of Judas. But in all controversies of 
this kind, the spiiitual mind sides, as it were instinctively, 
with inspired in preference to uninspired men. Especially 
when the whole proceeding was no more than the ratifica- 
tion of the sure word of prophecy ; " For it is written in 
the book of psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let 
no man dwell therein ; and his bishoprick let another 
take.'' It was first given by Christ. For this purpose, 
among others he was sent ; and as the Father sent him, so 
did he send ; so did his chosen apostles proceed to send 
Matthias and fill the lapsed bishoprick. Good care did 
they take, that the official privilege of promising, in God's 
name, the remission of sins to the penitent, and the official 
duty of declaring their retention, in the case of the impeni- 
tent, should not perish with their frail mortality. What- 
ever be tiiat privilege, whatever that duty, they must ne- 
cessarily continue to be vested in the priesthood, to which 
they were originally attached. 

The perpetuity of the christian church and hierarchy, 
as originally created, is also clearly demonstrable from the 
promise of Jesus to his apostles, " Lo, I am with you alway, 
even unto the end of the world." For what were the im- 
posing circumstances, under which it was made ? " Jesus 
came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto 
me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach 
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the tloly Ghost; teaching them to 
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." 
Yes, brethren, it was at the close of this broad and com- 
prehensive delegation of authority, that the heart cheering 
promise of his perpetual presence proceeded from our 
gracious Redeemer. And are ye disposed to confine its 



152 



SERMON XII. 



operation to the brief period, embracing the mortal exist- 
ence of those apostles ? What wretched work do you 
not necessarily make with all the prescribed duties, they 
were to discharge. These too must have the same limita- 
tion. All the power given to Jesus must be frittered down 
to the personal ministrations of the eleven. They run con- 
current with, and must share the fate of the promise. 
All other baptism, all other teaching of the nations to ob- 
serve all things whatsoever which Christ commanded them, 
must, by such theory, be made radically wrong. Though 
Paul baptized and preached the gospel, though he be jus- 
tified in so doing by the express testimony of the scrip- 
tures, yet was every act unauthorized and unlawful ; yet 
was it unaccompanied by the auspicious presence of the 
Great Head of the church. He was not one of the eleven. 
The commission to preach and to baptize was directed to 
them alone. The literal construction favours this idea 
far more than it does the limitation contended for in the 
other particular. Since the Saviour's presence is pledged 
to the end of the world, a period, that by no process of 
mathematicks can be quibbled down to mean the close of 
the first century. 

But with the true interpretation of the passage, there is 
no necessity for quibble or contrivance of any kind. All the 
power; requisite to baptize and teach all nations, or, as 
Mark has it to " preach the gospel to every creature," was 
conferred upon the eleven, as the first incumbents of the 
apostolick office and the representatives of " an unchangea- 
ble priesthood." In this aspect, every thing becomes easy 
of solution and perfectly congruous. Among the com- 
manded things was the ministry itself, to be transmitted 
by them to others, and by these in their turn indefi- 
nitely, constituting a continued series of successors in office 
to the end of the world. For our own sanctuary minis- 
trations, we acquire an imperishable warrant. They 
were not designed to be vitiated, nor are they vitiated, 
by reason of the apostles having yielded to the inevitable 
summons, " dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return." 
The promise of Christ was verified in the person of Paul, 
of Timothy, and Titus ; of Ignatius, Polycarp, Cyprian, 
and the countless hosts of faithful men, who, from the mi- 
raculous descent of the Holy Ghost, in the shape of " clo- 



SERMON XII. 



153 



ven tongues, like as of fire," to this very day, have been 
burning and shining lights, in the exercise of their high 
office. Heartily do I thank my God. that the apostolick 
system carries the apostolick blessing with it. Faithful 
and true is he who hath promised. To the end of the 
world, the church and the ministry, which Christ hath or- 
dained, are certain to enjoy the inexpressible felicity of his 
presence, of having him for their invincible guardian and 
protector. Though perils throng around, and foes innu- 
merable come up against them ; though the prospect be 
sometimes gloomy, and melancholy forebodings escape 
the lips, yet for them does he set in order the battle : for 
them he fights and triumphs ; the banner of victory is 
theirs, and theirs its shout of rejoicing, its endless hal- 
lelujah of praise. " Be thou faithful unto death, and I will 
give thee a crown of life." 

Far be it therefore from me to confine the memorable 
pledge in question, to the frail mortals, to whom it was first 
given. It is not only shocking to common sense to impose 
such meaning on intelligible words. It is equally fatal to 
the long indulged feelings of pleasure, with which chris- 
tians have contemplated that other promise of the Saviour ; 
" If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing 
that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father, 
which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered 
together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." 
I say fatal, because this also is addressed to the same apos- 
tles, as the preceding verse clearly shows, " Verily I 
say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be 
bound in heaven ; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth 
shall be loosed in heaven." Much more then must the 
principle, which limits the one, limit the other, deprived as 
it is of the additional and specifick words, " unto the end of 
the world." 

If any man will insist, that the former promise does not 
reach beyond the lives of the apostles, to be consistent, 
the latter must be interpreted in like manner. To sustain 
the interests of a party, he must banish the Redeemer 
from the presence of the church, which he purchased with 
his own blood. But if he prefers truth to party, the 
promise to be with the eleven, to the end of the world 
will be deemed infallible evidence of the permanency of 

13* 



154 



SERMON XII. 



the apostolick priesthood, including the apostolick office 
itself. On no other ground could Jesus say, knowing as 
he did the brevity of their lives, " Lo, I am with you alway, 
even unto the end of the world." But a permanent church 
and ministry perfectly harmonize with all that he said, and 
with all the wonderful blessings since profusely poured 
down upon Zion and Jerusalem. Let us pause therefore, 
brethren, in the midst of the argument, and happily pre- 
pare ourselves to be edified from its further development, 
by ascribing all praise, honour, dominion, and power, to 
Him, who, with the Holy Ghost, is most high in the 
glory of God the Father. Amen. 



SERMON XIII. 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

for zion's sake will i not hold my peace, and for 
Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETII. 

In pursuing the argument, whose object it is, to substan- 
tiate the permanent character of the primitive church and 
its ministry, I have now some observations to make on 
that part of the apostolick commission to teach and bap- 
tize all nations, which is clothed in terms of unrestricted 
import ; " teaching them to observe all things whatsoever 
I have commanded you." " All things" alone would seem 
to have been sufficiently broad and inclusive. But con- 
scious of the wonderful aptitude of men to put the least 
responsible construction upon injunctions of heavenly ori- 
gin, Jesus adopts a yet more emphatick phrase, one of the 
utmost possible degree of comprehension, 44 All things 
whatsoever." As if to guard against every evasion, every 
attempt at petty discrimination, the discrimination into 
moral and positive institutions, into the great and the little 
commandments, so as to avoid the obligation of obeying 
the latter ; as if for this very purpose, he employs an ex- 
pression, spanning every christian duty, as effectually as 
the heavens span the earth. 

Wherefore, brethren beloved, I take it upon me to sum- 
mon your consciences to decide whether the apostles did or 
did not conform to this unequivocal exaction of their risen 
Lord and Master. If they did, we have the mind of God 
in full. Nothing is omitted. Nothing is superinduced. 
If they did not, we want some inspired men accurately to 
distinguish between what is true and what is false : To 



158 



SERMON XIII . 



give us the omissions, presbyterianism, unitarianism, uni- 
versalism, quakerism, Calvinism, Pelagianism : To de- 
nounce the additions, episcopacy, infant baptism, confirma- 
tion, the Lord's supper, the Lord's day, the trinity, the 
Immanuel, the atonement. Yes, if the apostles were not 
faithful to their high trust, if, instead of teaching " all 
things whatsoever/' which Christ commanded them, they 
dared to put their veto on so many doctrines held by your 
discordant sects, diametrically opposite to each other : if 
they dared to insert others, since freely impugned by some 
sections of your divided house, we certainly require a new 
revelation from Almighty God, or the old one to be so re- 
vised, corrected, and amended, that christian people may 
act understandingly and not blindly, in the light and not 
in the dark. 

But eighteen hundred years have rolled away, and no 
such document has fallen from heavenly places. Men are 
amazingly vexed with what does appear. Some attack 
the original text ; others, the translation. Germany and, 
in a degree, Harvard impeach the one. Andover, and 
Princeton, and Yale, though zealous for the original, con- 
stantly feel the necessity of getting over difficulties, im- 
peding their favourite theories, by new versions in the 
room of the other ; in this manner, however unintentional, 
affording efficient aid to the scorner, and perplexing the 
minds of unlettered good men, in relation to the authen- 
tick character of our English vulgate. And still the Most 
High appears perfectly satisfied with the first autographs, 
written by the Holy Ghost, on the minds of prophet, apos- 
tle, and evangelist. He does not even smile upon the he- 
terogeneous compound of criticks, orthodox and hetero- 
dox, savans and empiricks, who have the temerity to array 
their single judgment against that of the forty eight good 
men and true, to whom unceasing praise will be rendered 
for imparting to the anglo world the bible in its vernacu- 
lar tongue. I can therefore rely with perfect confidence 
on the integrity of the inspired apostles, that they neither 
added a particle to, nor diminished an iota from, the ex- 
press mandate of Jesus. 

Their characters forbid it. Were they not eminently pi- 
ous and holy ? Did they not forsake all and follow Christ ? 
Did they not intrepidly brave a world, banded in arms, 



SERMON XIII. 



157 



against them ? Did they not refuse to quail before the 
spirit of diabolism, when to win their lives, they were 
compelled to lose them ? Was not all this effected in de- 
fiance of torment, unmingled and excruciating ; and when 
no more than a single apostate word would have struck 
off their chains and delivered them from the hands of wick- 
ed men ? Ye know, brethren, that I am not imbodying 
the creations of fancy. Ye know, that it is not romance 
but reality, of which I am discoursing. And the conse- 
quence is, that serious men can no more believe that the 
primitive church, as originally constituted, was an after- 
thought of the apostles, than they can believe them to have 
practised the fraud, anticipated, in the application of the 
chief priests and pharisees to " Pilate, saying, Sir, we re- 
member that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, 
after three days I will rise again. Command therefore 
that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest 
his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say 
unto the people, He is risen from the dead ; so the last 
errour shall be worse than the first." The resurrec- 
tion, on the contrary, was real and not supposititious. And 
the church must follow the same rule. If ye can prove, 
that it was not fashioned after the pattern shown to the 
eleven by Jesus himself, ye will as clearly prove, that 
he never appeared alive again after the crucifixion. The 
authority for the one is the authority for the other. They 
either stand or they fall together. 

It cannot be even pretended, that the apostles in this 
matter acted with precipitation, without sufficiently reflect- 
ing upon the precise instructions of Christ. For admitting 
that their memories were naturally treacherous, or that 
their recollections might innocently vary, the one from the 
other ; yet were they not left to any such uncertain guides, 
when they went about to christianize the world. After 
delivering the preamble, " If a man love me, he will keep my 
words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto 
him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not 
keepeth not my sayings, and the word which you hear is 
not mine, but the Father's which sent me ;" after deliver- 
ing this admirable preamble, putting them in possession of 
the grand principle of obedience, as the true test of a dis- 
ciple's religion, Jesus proceeds ; " These things have I 



158 



SERMON XIII. 



spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the 
Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will 
send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring 
all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said 
unto you." 

Behold then, brethren, the exceeding precaution taken 
by the Son of Man, to have " all things whatsoever," he 
commanded the apostles, rightly proclaimed to the chil- 
dren of men. Nothing is left to evil accident or precarious 
counsels, to human judgment or finite discretion. But the 
Comforter is promised to enliven their memory in all 
things; and again, "when the Spirit of truth is come, he 
will guide you into all truth." In this point of view, it 
cannot therefore be tolerated, that holy men of God, who 
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, could so 
egregiously mistake the vocation whereunto they were call- 
ed as to violate the explicit direction of Christ, and palm 
upon their converts another church and ministry than those 
which were commanded. This would be to frustrate the 
divine will. This would overmatch the power, and at the 
same time transcend the wisdom of God. I can credit no 
such legends. My readers too must spurn them ; and spurn- 
ing, episcopacy, becomes one of the things commanded to 
be taught, in the commission of Christ, directing the apos- 
tles to evangelize the nations, It is part of the gospel, 
and is not to be lightly esteemed, out of greater love to 
the capricious imaginings of men. 

And besides this, ye are to bear in mind, that the apos- 
tles were continually following the example of Christ, by 
referring to the source of their authority. He was accus- 
tomed to say, " This commandment have I received of 
my Father." " I hav$ not spoken of myself, but the Father 
which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should 
say, and what I should speak." "As the Father gave me 
commandment even so I do." And precisely thus with 
the apostles : Their language is no less explicit. "We 
command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." " The things that I write unto you are the com- * 
mandments of the Lord." " Ye know what command- 
ments we gave you by the Lord Jesus." " He command- 
ed us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he 
which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and 



SERMON XIII, 



159 



dead." " This is his commandment, that we should be- 
lieve on the name of, his Son Jesus Christ." " This com- 
mandment have we from him, that he who loveth God 
love his brother also." 

So particular indeed were the apostles not to insist upon 
any observance, which was not enjoined by the Lord, that 
Paul frequently distinguishes between what proceeds from 
on high, and must be obeyed ; and that which is his own 
counsel, which is only advisory and not imperative. " I 
speak this by permission, and not of commandment." 
" Concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord ; 
yet I give my judgment." " I speak not by commandment, 
but by occason of the forwardness of others." Who then 
can for a moment delude himself with the idea, that on so im- 
portant a subject as the church and its ministry, such men 
would speak of their own mere motion, and neglect to ap- 
prize the hearer of the fact ? Nothing could be more incred- 
ible. It would far surpass the insanity of the scribes and 
pharisees, No case could be conceived of, which would 
more exactly quadrate with the rebuke of Jesus, " Ye blind 
guides, which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel." 

Nor must it be forgotten, that the first epistle to Timo- 
thy, wherein so much is said of the constitution of the chris- 
tain priesthood, abounds in the language of positive com- 
mand. Paul first notices his own induction to the apos- 
tolick office. It was " by the commandment of God 
Our Saviour " " for that he accounted me faithful, putting 
me into the ministry." He then proceeds, in the most sol- 
emn manner, to advert to the prophets as having predicted 
the calling of his own son in the faith. " This charge I 
commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophe- 
cies which went before on thee, that thou by them might- 
est war a good warfare." After which numerous direc- 
tions occur, pertaining to the ministry and the qualifica- 
tions for its sacred function. If he describes a person fit- 
ted to discharge the office of a bishop or of a deacon, he 
assigns a reason, which proves the high estimate he put 
upon either station, and the still superiour ecclesiastical dig- 
nity of Timothy, his own apostolick brother. " These 
things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly : 
But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou 
oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is 



160 



SERMON XIII. 



the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the 
truth." If he institutes forms of discipline, by which " the 
elders that rule well" are to " be counted worthy of double 
honour," and " them that sin," are to be " rebuked before 
all," he does it under auspices high and holy as these ; " I 
charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
the elect angels, that thou observe these things, without 
preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality. 
Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of oth- 
er men's sins, keep thyself pure." If he would make a 
lasting impression upon the youthful apostle's mind, and 
persuade all succeeding incumbents of the office, of its im- 
mense value in promoting the prosperity of the Redeem- 
er's kingdom, he both appeals to the Lord Most High, and 
announces the permanent character of the ecclesiastical 
edifice, he had sketched ; " I give thee charge in the sight 
of God, who quickeneth all things and before Christ Jesus, 
who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, 
that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebuk- 
able, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ." 

Satisfy yourselves therefore, brethren, that the objects 
of all this solicitude, these godly admonitions and most sol- 
emn charges ; satisfy yourselves, that they were mere 
temporary arrangements, and not designed to be had in re- 
membrance, until the actual dawning of millennial days, 
and ye have arrived at the identical point occupied by the * 
infidel, in relation to the whole bible. Ye are faithless as 
to a part ; he discards all. Ye will not be governed by a 
divinely established priesthood ; he will be governed by 
none. No where does the apostle more freely employ the 
word of command. No where does he more confidently 
appeal to a higher tribunal, as the sanction for his proceed- 
ings. And if such command and such sanction do not im- 
pose an irresistible obligation to obey, I apprehend, that 
all clerical offices must be abandoned. There are none 
recorded in the new testament, besides those appearing in 
this epistle. To all of them the instruction of Paul applies. 
If he is not to be our guide to the three, he cannot be to 
the one. The office of a presbyter bishop is of no more 
authority than the offices of an apostolick bishop and a dea- 
con. Strike them all out of existence ; and with them ex- 
pires the church ; and with the church, the truth, of which 



SERMON XI II. 



161 



it is the pillar and ground : and with the truth, every di- 
vine command ; and with every divine command, all ne- 
cessity of obedience, whether moral or religious. " Where 
no law is, there is no transgression/' In this connexion, I 
must therefore adduce additional evidence, that, in the es- 
tablishment of the church and its ministry, the apostles did 
not act upon their own personal authority. Already have 
I cited several passages from the Hebrews to prove the 
unchangeable character of our christian hierarchy. I al- 
lude to parts of that argument; where it is shown, that 
Christ is a high priest after the order of Melchizedeck and 
not after the order of Aaron. And what is the conclusion 
to which the apostle conducts his countrymen ? " Now of 
the things which we have spoken this is the sum. We 
have such a high priest, wdio is set on the right hand of the 
throne of the Majesty in the heavens ; a minister of the 
sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitch- 
ed, and not man." Clearly then does Paul speak of Jesus, 
the high priest of the christian church ; clearly does he 
speak of him, as the minister of the sanctuary and taberna- 
cle pitched by the Lord and not man ; by Christ himself, 
and not Moses and Aaron. Not only does the preceding 
quotation expressly declare it, but as if to remove all pre- 
tence for cavil, the tabernacle of Moses is immediately re- 
ferred to in the way of contrast, and an inference is drawn, 
which places my understanding of " the high priest" and 
" the true tabernacle." on incontrovertible ground : " But 
now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how 
much also he is the Mediator of a better covenant, which 
was established upon better promises. For if that first 
covenant had been faultless, then should no place have 
been sought for the second." The more excellent minis- 
try, the better covenant, the better promises, all point to 
the christian dispensation. We must give up our senses 
if we will not give up our party, and acknowledge the gos- 
pel church to have been pitched by the gospel Lord. 

The next proo; of the unchangeableness, for which I 
contend, results from a comparison of texts. In the first 
chapter of James, we have this never to be forgotten les- 
son, " When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin ; and 
sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." And what 
do ye imagine follows so ominous a declaration ? " Do 

14 



162 SERMON XIII. 

not err, my beloved brethren." What reasons are imme- 
diately assigned as so many inducements to operate in 
guarding us from the encroachments of errour ? " Every 
good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh 
down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variable- 
ness, neither shadow of turning." On either side of the 
command not to err, we therefore perceive the little quarter 
it receives from the word of God. Sin produces death. 
Ye are not to discard the good and the perfect gift from 
heaven, because he who bestows it is not like man ; he is 
the Lord and changes not ; he will exact strict conformity 
to his institutions. 

Ask yourselves then, brethren, if the church, with its 
priesthood, be not one of the good and perfect gifts which 
are from above. Is not this the clear, undeniable revelation 
of the sacred volume ? Look at what Paul says to the 
Corinthians, directly affirming the divine origin of the 
christian ministry, making a three fold division thereof, 
and enumerating the peculiar qualifications possessed by 
the first evangelists. " God hath set some in the church ; 
first, apostles ; secondarily, prophets ; thirdly, teachers ; 
after that, miracles ; then gifts of healing, helps, govern- 
ments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles ? Are all 
prophets ? Are all teachers ? Are all workers of mira- 
cles ? Have all the gifts of healing ? Do all speak with 
tongues ? Do all interpret T For my part, I cannot 
conceive of a more thorough refutation of the idle fantasy 
of ministerial parity, or of the more presumptuous doc- 
trine, that, all men have a right to assume the clerical 
office. 

And if ye will still make a distinction, between setting 
some in the church and giving to the church, look at that 
passage in the Ephesians, where, in enumerating his " gifts 
unto men," it is said of Jesus, " He gave some, apostles ; 
and some, prophets ; and some, evangelists ; and some, 
pastors and teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, for 
the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of 
Christ." Look at what Paul asserts of himself ; " I was 
made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God, 
given unto me by the effectual working of his power." 
Look at the two admonitions which he delivered to Timo- 
thy, " Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given 



SERMON XIII. 



163 



thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of ,.the 
presbytery." " Wherefore I put thee in remembrance, 
that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the 
putting on of my hands." 

Yes, brethren, look at these things, these sure testimonies 
that the gospel ministry is the gift of God ; compare them 
with the doctrine in James ; inquire and see, if every 
divine gift is not good and perfect in its kind, too good and 
perfect to be bettered by the art and subtlety of man's 
device ; ponder well upon the annunciation of God's being, 
in relation to his gifts, without variableness or shadow of 
turning ; reflect intently upon the manner in which ye are 
to torture such revelation, into harmonious accordance 
with a changed church and ministry, with humanly or- 
ganized churches and a humanly organized ministry ; all 
this do ye carefully and seriously revolve in your minds.: 
And then, with what appetite ye may, let the scripture be 
as carefully and seriously digested, which saith, " sin, when 
it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved 
brethren." If it does not put some of you out of conceit 
with the supposed license of the moderns, to erect just such 
churches and establish within them just such ministers as 
they may choose to create, I can form no accurate con- 
ception of what humility towards God and deference to his 
commandments will morally compel the believer in Christ 
to perform. If ye can rightly dispense with the gift of 
the apostolick priesthood, why may ye not rightly dispense 
with the christian high priest himself? He also was 
given. In the gospel, it is written, " God so loved the 
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting 
life." 

Another remarkable proof, of the divine origin and in- 
delibility of the gospel ministry, is furnished in the fifth 
chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews. The apostle first 
speaks of the christian in connexion with the Jewish high 
priest, making this most solemn attestation of the heavenly 
appointment of both ; " No man taketh this honour unto 
himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron." After 
which, he confines himself exclusively to our ascended 
Mediator, and employs language, whose purport cannot 
be easily misunderstood. " So also Christ glorified not 



164 



SERMON XIII. 



himself to be made a high priest ; but he that said unto 
him, Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee. As 
he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest forever 
after the order of Meiclnzedeck." 

If the Son therefore, brethren, he who was so loved and 
honoured of the Father, if he could not of his own will 
assume the chief glory of the priesthood, what culpable 
arrogance it must be, in any mere man to invade the sacred 
office. Its functions indeed he may attempt. He may 
even erect a cross and crucify himself. But as in such 
sacrifice there would be no virtue, so in such priesthood 
there is none. It is God's will alone, that renders ministe- 
rial acts legitimate and valid. It is not owing to any 
merit in the apostolick bishop more than others possess, 
that he enjoys the power of conferring holy orders. It is 
altogether the divine appointment, which invests him with 
such authority. Strip him of this, and he can no more 
make a minister of Christ than he can make a world. 
Clothe him with its prerogative in the only possible way, 
in the line of a direct uninterrupted succession, ordination 
after ordination, from the apostolick original to his own 
induction to the episcopate, and there exists a channel for 
the transmission of all the ministerial offices, which is in 
perfect harmony with the precedents under review. " No 
man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called 
of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not him- 
self to be made a high priest, but he that said unto him, 
Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee." 

If I am wrong in this particular, how has it happened, 
that other parts of the scriptures fully sustain me in the 
position? It was not man but God, who decided the lot 
in favour of Matthias's elevation to the apostleship. Paul 
became " an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by 
Jesus Christ and God the Father." This same charge 
was conferred by him on Timothy, " according to the 
prophecies which went before." And though Paul's own 
hands were instrumental in the conveyance, yet was this 
outward ceremony divinely ordained. He himself says 
of Timothy's apostleship ; " Stir up the gift of God, which 
is in thee by the putting on of my hands." He even pro- 
vides for its prolonged existence, in these inspired com- 
mands. " Lay hands suddenly on no man." " The things 



SERMON XIII. 



165 



that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the 
same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to 
teach others also." It is not then every faithful man, who 
is invested w T ith such power. It must be regularly con- 
veyed to him, ere he can teach others, or in his turn com- 
mit the teaching of others to a new succession of faithful 
men. In this argument, I can detect no flaw, nor can 
you. As long as the scriptural history extends, there is 
no other mode revealed of either acquiring or conferring 
the ministry. It is all a good and perfect gift, which hath 
" come down from the Father of lights " and if ye will 
prefer the shining of some other cynosure to illumine your 
sacerdotal kingdom, its rays will not be darted from*tfae 
Sun of Righteousness ; ye must content yourselves with 
the luminary, whose first appearance in the spiritual hori- 
zon dates from Geneva, at the beginning or middle of the 
sixteenth century. 

In confirmation of the preceding views, I now invite 
your attention, brethren, to such passages as these ; " Put 
them in mind to be subject to principalities and pow- 
ers, to obey magistrates." " Let every soul be subject 
unto the higher powers ; for there is no power but of God. 
The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever 
therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of 
God : and they that resist shall receive to themselves 
damnation." How strong, how forcible, how imperative 
is this language of Paul ! And to what does it relate ? 
To the civil power and the civil magistrate. By such au- 
thority are they upheld. " For he beareth not the sword 
in vain ; for he is the minister of God, a revenger to exe- 
cute wrath upon him that doth evil." And can ye believe 
that things temporal are so vastly superiour to things eter- 
nal, that, w T hile obedience to rulers in the former is thus 
strongly enforced, they who have charge of the latter are 
entitled to no submission whatever ? I can subscribe to 
no such theology. It is not legible in the code of spiritual 
jurisprudence. There I find a bishop must be " one that 
ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjec- 
tion with all gravity ; for if a man know not how to rule 
his own house, how shall he take care of the church of 
God ?" There the laity are thus instructed ; " Obey them 
hat have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for 
14* 



166 



SERMON XIII. 



they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, 
that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is 
unprofitable for you." 

Recollect then, that no other officers have authority 
in spiritual concerns, but those ordained of God and their 
lawful successors. To no others are ye called upon to 
yield the shadow of obedience. By submission to intru- 
ders, ye cannot annul the obligation to submit to the only 
rightful authority. Paul did not authorize you to set up 
a new spiritual kingdom in lieu of the old, when he gave 
this account of its permanent character ; "We receiving 
a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, 
whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence 
and godly fear ; for our God is a consuming fire." He 
did not empower the moderns to renounce the apostolick 
office, when he addressed the Corinthians in these em- 
phatick terms ; " Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers 
of me. For this cause, have I sent unto you Timotheus, 
who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall 
bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in 
Christ, as I teach every where in every chinch." And 
again ; " Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of 
Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember 
me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered 
them to you." On the contrary, the first of these extracts 
clearly denotes the unchangeable character of the church ; 
and the two last plainly announce, both the uniformity of 
the apostle's proceedings in every church, and the praise 
which grew out of remembering and following him in all 
things, even to the keeping of the ordinances he had de- 
livered. In the one or the other of these designations, it 
must be admitted that the ministry was included. Can 
you then be right in discarding that which the Corinthians 
are praised for retaining ? When the same apostle 
charges Timothy ; " Continue thou in the things which 
thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of 
whom thou hast learned them ;" Can your clergy plead 
exemption from the command, and justify their organiza- 
tion of a ministry utterly unknown to Paul, which Timo- 
thy did not receive from him, which he neither learned nor 
was assured of, and in which he could not of course con- 
tinue ? To me the answer is plain, as though it were 



SERMON XIII. 



167 



lettered with stars upon the vault of heaven. The min- 
isters of Christ are not so inferiour to magistrates and the 
powers that be, as to legalize the assumption of their office 
and authority, on the part of person s, who have no war- 
rant in justification from the holy scriptures, and who, in 
this particular, will not be followers of Paul, even as he 
also was a follower of Christ. 

Again, brethren, so intimate is the union subsisting be- 
tween Christ and the church, that it is frequently pre- 
sented under the similitude of the marriage tie. " The 
husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the 
head of the church." What Adam said of Eve, Paul 
affirms of the church ; " We are members of his body, 
of his flesh and of his bones. For this cause shall a man 
leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his 
wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great 
mystery ; but I speak concerning Christ and the church." 
Call to mind, then, the indissoluble nature of the marriage 
covenant ; that nothing annuls it, but one single crime, 
until death performs his handiwork. Refresh your memo- 
ry with the additional fact, that when Jesus so decided, he 
also asserted of the man and his wife, that they were " no 
more twain but one flesh " following up the assertion with 
the command, " what therefore God hath joined together 
let not man put asunder." Bring all this, brethren, seri- 
ously to your remembrance, and I will acknowledge your 
courage to be infinitely greater than mine, if ye can still 
venture to abide by that unauthorized " writing of di vorce- 
ment," which would fain separate the mystical bridegroom 
from the bride. 

Much better would it be for you to catch the spirit and 
be guided by the counsel of Paul to the Corinthians, "I am 
jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused 
you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste 
virgin to Christ." And to the Romans ; " Know ye not, 
brethren, for I speak to them that know the law, how that 
the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth t 
For the woman which hath a husband is bound by the 
law to her husband so long as he liveth ; but if the hus- 
band be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 
So then if while her husband liveth she be married to an* 



168 



SERMON XIII. 



other man, she shall be called an adulteress ; but if her 
husband be dead, she is free from that law ; so that she is 
no adulteress, though she be married to another man. 
Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the 
law by the body of Christ ; that ye should be married to 
another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we 
should bring forth fruit unto God." 

Yes, much better would it be for christians to catch the 
spirit and be guided by this counsel of Paul, than to sunder 
the mystical marriage of which he speaks. Spurious 
brides would exist no more. Spiritual adultery would 
flee away. A bishop and a deacon are to have but one 
wife respectively, and no fruitless attempts would be made 
to force more than one upon the Lord Jesus. To no more 
is he betrothed, and to more will he be married. Here- 
after a voice will come from the throne of God, saying, 
among other things, " Let us be glad and rejoice, and give 
honour to him ; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, 
and his wife hath made herself ready." New churches 
will not therefore supplant the church of the gospel, in 
his affections. He will not accept them for his brides. 
As man and wife could not lawfully be put asunder, so, rea- 
soning from analogy, an analogy recognised by the simili- 
tude in the scriptures, so can there be no lawful divorce- 
ment of Christ from the church. In this light, it is for- 
bidden ; and schism itself, the external shape which it as- 
sumes, is also forbidden. 

Were there no other reason, I flatter myself with hav- 
ing here submitted unanswerable proof of the perpetuity 
of our christian Zion. With the dissolution of all terres- 
trial things, it will indeed forsake the places which m>w 
know it, which rejoice in its light, and are thronged with 
millions ever ready to attest, that " the rightousness thereof 
goes forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a 
lamp that burnetii." But in the glories of the church tri- 
umphant, the bride of Christ will exist forever. They who 
love her now will love her then. " Blessed are they 
which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb." 
" Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they 
may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through 
the gates into the city." My lot I would cast with them, 



SERMON XIII. 



169 



during the few days of our mortal pilgrimage ; and God, 
of his infinite mercy, grant, that it may be cast with the 
faithful of all ages, come from what quarter they may, 
when time shall be no longer and the visions of hope shall 
be merged in the fruitions of eternity. Amen, 



SERMON XIV. 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

for zion's sake will i not hold my peace, and for 
Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETH. 

My last discourse terminated with that beautiful simili- 
tude, wherein the close relationship between Christ and the 
church is symbolized by the marriage tie, through which 
the male and the female are " no more twain but one flesh." 
The nuptial union itself, it must be confessed, is visible. 
We have no such thing as an invisible marriage. It is 
one flesh, not one spirit. Often indeed do we hear of ill 
assorted alliances. They occur now and they occurred, 
while yet God spake to man. But neither now nor then, 
can it be shown, that such incongruousness vitiated the con- 
nexion. Paul says, " Unto the married I command, yet 
not I, but the Lord, let not the wife depart from her hus- 
band." "If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, 
and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her 
away. And the woman which hath an husband that be- 
lieveth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her 
not leave him." All this therefore clearly proves, that it 
is the visible and not the imaginary invisible, church, to 
which Christ is betrothed. 

The ultimate espousal, I agree, can only be celebrated 
between him, and those, who, in addition to their member- 
ship in the visible church, are of this description, " He that 
is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." But prior to that 
glorious consummation, it is beyond a doubt, that the king- 
dom of heaven is likened unto a field containing wheat 
and tares, and to a net which " was cast into the sea and 



SERMON XIV. 



171 



gathered of every kind." It is even said, when the vege- 
table and animal separations are spoken of, "So shall it be 
in the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth 
his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all 
things that offend, and them which do iniquity f and again, 
" The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from 
among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire ; 
there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." Mark the 
two expressions, " shall gather out of his kingdom," " and 
sever the wicked from among the just." Compare these 
with the acknowledged fact, that many impenitent sinners 
do belong to the kingdom of heaven, here below ; Do this ; 
And all those contrivances, by which the unity of the 
church, so often inculcated in the scriptures, is made to ap- 
ply to an invisible and not a visible body, all those contri- 
vances are utterly demolished. On such ground, sectari- 
ans cannot successfully justify their numerous external 
churches, diversified and discordant as they are. But just 
as two individuals, joined together in holy matrimony, be- 
come one ; so many individuals, joined together by bap- 
tism in the church, become emphatically one. " For as 
we have many members in one body, and all members 
have not the same office ; so we, being many, are one 
body in Christ, and every one members one of another." 

To illustrate this matter more at large, I must call to 
your remembrance, brethren, . several passages from the 
writings of Paul. Speaking of Christ, he says, that the 
" Father of glory" " hath put all things under his feet, and 
gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 
which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." 
To the same purport is this declaration to the Colossians ; 
" He is before all things, and by him all things consist ; 
and he is the head of the body, the church." How many 
bodies then are there of which he is the head ? Accord- 
ing to your system, there must be many. Though the 
head be one, yet to this one must ye attach as many bodies 
as there are churches, separate and distinct the one from 
the other. A prodigy of a hundred heads and one body 
is not unknown to fabulous annals. But it was reserved 
for protestants to present us with the more incredible con- 
ception of a single head united to near three hundred 
bodies, all pulling in opposite directions, and striving for 



172 



SERMON XIV. 



corporeal pre-eminence, They will not walk together by 
the way. They will not all sit down together at the same 
table, to feed on heavenly mysteries. And yet they have 
the same head ! The same head gives impetus to I know 
not how many doctrines and practices, the very antipodes 
of each other ! 

W hat frenzy, for it must be something more than imag- 
ination, what frenzy is this ? Do ye call this " endeavour- 
ing to Keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace V 9 
Such is the admonition of Paul to the Ephesians. And 
if ye really think, that ye are in this manner subserving the 
cause of Christ, I will supply you with the immediate con- 
text, showing what is meant, by keeping the unity of the 
Spirit in the bond of peace : " There is one body, and one 
Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling ; 
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, 
who is above all, and through all, and in you all." See ye 
not the harmony, which the apostle summons to the view, 
in lieu of all that discord, inseparable from your system ? 
There are not three hundred bodies, no more than there 
are three hundred Spirits, or hopes, or Lords, or faiths, or 
baptisms, or Gods and Fathers of all. To multiply the 
one body he describes, ye must have recourse to any thing 
except the word of God ; to metaphysicks, liberality, ex- 
pediency, to what seemeth good in your own eyes. But 
neither in the old testament nor in the new, can ye find so 
much as one solitary text to sustain you in the process. 
All there is unity ; simple undivided unity ; one Jewish 
body and one christian body. 

Some indeed might conjecture, as the church is figurative- 
ly compared to a body, that there would be as many church- 
es as there are members to the body. But even this ingen- 
ious speculation has been anticipated by the apostle and 
thoroughly refuted, in the twelfth chapter of the first Cor- 
inthians. The argument is too forcible to be entirely 
omitted. " For as the body is one, and hath many mem- 
bers, and all the members of that one body, being many, 
are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we 
all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or gen- 
tiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made 
to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member 
but many. If the foot shall say, because I am not the 



SERMON XIV. 



173 



hand, I am not of the body ; is it therefore not of the 
body ? And if the ear shall say, because I am not the 
eye, I am not of the body ; is it therefore not of the body ? 
If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing ? 
If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? 
But now hath God set the members every one of them in 
the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one 
member, where were the body ? But now are they many 
members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say 
unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again, the head 
to the feet, I have no need of thee." 

No matter then, brethren, where we come from, in what 
region born or in what climate bred, though in this respect 
we were diverse as Jews and gentiles, masters and slaves, 
yet when baptized, we are to be baptized into one body, 
are to be made members of one, not many bodies. Such 
is the argument before us ; such is the tenour of the sub- 
sequent declaration ; " ye are the body of Christ, and mem- 
bers in particular." And is not this entirely different from 
your system 1 Are all your churches component parts of 
one body 1 What harmony is there between them ? In 
what one faith, do they unite ? Alas ! presbyterianism 
has as many bodies as there are sects, and as many creeds 
as there are bodies. The eye does say to the hand, I have 
no need of thee. The head does say to the feet, I have 
no need of thee. 

Soon as the apostle remarked, " ye are the body of 
Christ and members in particular," he added, " And God 
hath set some in the church ; first, apostles ; secondarily, 
pi-ophets ; thirdly, teachers." " Are all apostles ? Are all 
prophets ? Are all teachers ?" But the highest in dignity 
of these members of the body, though set there by the Al- 
mighty himself, ye certainly have cast off, and one only do 
ye profess to retain, the prophet or, as the fourteenth chap- 
ter of this epistle shows, the preacher ; in other places, 
called the presbyter. And by what authority has this 
been done ? Who authorized you to set one member only 
where God hath set three ? Who authorized you to con- 
found the distinction he hath made, and so merge the three 
in one, as to insist, that all are prophets or presbyters ? 
Paul must not be so perverted. In his episile to the apos- 
tle Timothy, he still recognises the three orders in the 

15 



174 



SERMON XI V . 



ministry. In the very argument upon which I am now 
engaged, he tells us, " that there should be no schism in 
the body," no cutting off of apostles, or prophets, or teach- 
ers ; " but that the members should have the same care 
one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the 
members suffer with it, or one member be honoured, all 
the members rejoice with it." 

In this direct manner, then, brethren, do I invite you to 
inquire seriously into the fact, whether ye are or are not 
breakers of the command against schism. If ye seek to vin- 
dicate yourselves by saying that the apostolick office has 
ceased, in my previous volume the errour has been refuted 
at large ; and, referring you there, I must now restrict 
myself to the reply, that the assertion is gratuitous ; that 
it was never made, before the founders of presbyterianism 
imposed upon their followers the necessity of broaching it ? 
as essential to the maintenance of that schism ; and that it 
is to this very day utterly repudiated, not only by us, but 
by a vast majority of the christian world. To such mu- 
tilation of the body, eighteen twentieths at least of the 
whole number will by no means consent. 

If ye prefer to intrench yourselves behind the self com- 
placent plea of spirituality ; if ye will make this an am- 
bush, from which the more successfully to attack God's 
own threefold ministry, let me put you in mind, that the 
lucid view, given by Paul of the body and its members, 
both clerical and lay, is preceded by these striking analo- 
gies, all at variance with the doctrine of parity. " Now 
there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And 
there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. 
And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same 
God which worketh all in all." 

Here therefore is a trinity of action, on the part of the 
Godhead, in which the province of the second person there- 
of, he who died for our sins and rose again for our justifi- 
cation, who is our only Mediator and Intercessor with the 
Father, in which his province,, in the existing work of our 
salvation, is more particularly associated with the sacer- 
dotal character. " There are differences of administra- 
tions, but the same Lord." Though there be " set in the 
church, first apostles ; secondarily, prophets ; thirdly, teach- 
ers f yet is Christ its high priest and head. In heaven, 
lie intercedes and pleads for us before the throne. On 



SERMON XIV. 



175 



earth, to cite the very words of the apostle, " God was in 
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing 
their trespasses unto them ; and h&th committed unto us 
the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassa- 
dors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us : we 
pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled unto God." 

By nothing more clear, would I wish to refute the oft 
refuted pretext of spirituality. Diversities of gifts, of 
administrations, and of operations are all classed together. 
Whoever impugns the authority of the one, for the want 
of spirituality, to be coherent, should impugn that of the 
remaining two. By nothing more precise and definite, 
would I expose the fallacy of your one ordered ministry. 
To maintain it, ye must deny, that " there are differences 
of administrations, but the same Lord ;" ye must contest 
the validity of that triune priesthood, so expressly pro- 
claimed by Paul, tripartite as " set in the church" below, 
but a unit as proceeding from the one great " high priest, 
who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty 
in the heavens : a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true 
tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man." 

Nor must it be forgotten, that the injunction against 
schism, or the dismemberment of the body of Christ, is 
also preceded, in the commencement of the epistle, by 
certain charges against the Corinthians, which involve the 
practical operation of the sin, and enable us to determine 
what it is. " Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, 
and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be 
perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same 
judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my 
brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that 
there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that 
every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of A polios, 
and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided ? Was 
Paul crucified for you ? Or were ye baptized in the name 
of Paul?" Could any thing be more perspicuous ? There 
were to be no divisions among them. Already had they 
began to vex the vineyard of the Lord. Prominent indi- 
viduals were selected from among the ministers of Christ ; 
and, indulging their personal prepossessions, parties were 
formed, whose object it was to elevate a particular favour- 



176 



SERMON XIV. 



ite to the office of a leader. In modern times they would 
have succeeded. To remote generations, would have 
been handed down, the sect of the Paulites, of the Apol- 
losites, of the Cephasites, as well as the true body of 
Christ. 

But not so, in that day, when holy indignation, instead of 
restless ambition, stirred the spirit of the devoted servant 
of Jesus. With emphasis did he repel the overtures, con- 
ferring equal honour on him, with the honour due to his 
.Lord and Master. This would be to divide the one mys- 
tical body. And forthwith does he demand ; " Is Christ 
divided ?" This would be to allow himself to be thrust 
forward as the founder, if not the redeemer, of a new 
church. And reproachfully does he inquire of the com- 
mencing schismaticks ; " Was Paul crucified for you ? 
Or were ye baptized in the name of Paul ?" Would to 
God, that such humility had prevailed from that time to 
this. Papal supremacy w r ould never have been heard of. 
Presbyterian parity would not have warmed into life and 
being a multitude of sects, or nominal sections of the body 
of Christ, whose combined heresies far exceed in number 
and in enormity the err ours of the Roman faith. Instead 
of such things being thought to have their origin in some 
wonderfully spiritual conception, and to indicate a great- 
er amount of spiritual-mindedness, the opposite doctrine 
would have free course and be glorified ; another and a 
widely variant epithet would surmount the porch of all 
that man's ingenuity doth build, or man's versatility doth 
prize. 

If ye believe not me, believe the apostle, of whom I 
have been speaking, and no more will ye impeach, as de- 
ficient in spirituality, the lover of Christ undivided. Of 
the schismatick Corinthians, he affirms, " Ye are yet car- 
nal ; for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, 
and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men ? For 
while one saith, I am of Paul ; and another, I am of Apol- 
los ; are ye not carnal ? Who then is Paul, and who is 
Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the 
Lord gave to every man 1 I have planted, Apollos wa- 
tered ; but God gave the increase. So then, neither is he 
that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth ; but God 
that giveth the increase." 



SERMON XIV. 



171 



In the judgment of the great apostle, it is therefore ap- 
parent that schism is the dividing of the mystical body of 
Christ, which is the church. Though suppressed by him. 
it was attempted by the Corinthians in such form and man- 
ner, as has been since successful in hundreds of instances. 
Both great men and little men, the wise in their craftiness 
and the simple in their enthusiasm, have so created sects 
and multiplied divisions, that nothing can be more de- 
plorable than the present state of Christendom. To schis- 
maticks of every class and grade, the question still addresses 
itself from the sacred page ; nay, from the yet crucified 
victim upon the accursed tree, it cries against them, k4 Are 
ye not carnal, and walk as men V Melancholy thought ! 
Heart searching inquiry ! Pray over it, brethren, and 
task your intellects to their utmost capacity, that ye may 
come to a decision, not to be repented of at the judgment 
day. " For to be carnally minded is death ; but to be 
spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal 
mind is enmity against God ; for it is not subject to the 
law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are 
in the flesh cannot please God." 

Such is division. Such is the prelection of Paul against 
the first demonstration, made by the genius of schism in 
the christian church. And time has neither changed its 
features nor annihilated its guilt. Carnal is the motto 
broadly chiselled on its forehead. It so crimsons its ban- 
ner, and taints the very breeze which bears it aloft, that 
the sooner we can slay the monster and dispose of its body 
in some impregnable sarcophagus, the sooner will all other 
sin be dethroned from its empire over the human mind, 
and he, whose weapons are pre-eminently carnal, be utter- 
ly foiled and discomfited by the sword of the Spirit, which 
is the word of God. 

But there is another invincible argument, in favour of 
the unchangeableness of the church and its ministry, which 
must not escape your serious meditation. I allude to the 
foundation thereof. Until that gives way, the superstruct- 
ure must stand. All the embattled hosts of the evil one 
can make no impression upon the massive walls of Zion, 
long as they rest upon an immoveable basis. They must 
first organize into a corps of sappers and miners, and try 
their skill upon a fortress, more stable than Gibraltar, less 
15* 



178 



SERMON XIV. 



liable to be upheaved by art or strategy, than the Andes to 
bow their lofty summits, and disappear beneath the un- 
fathomed deep. 

Am I right or am I wrong? Listen to the words of 
Jesus : " I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter ; and 
upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of 
hell shall not prevail against it." Dees this look like suc- 
cessful mining and consequent demolition ? Is this the 
edifice, which so many are fain to dream was only tempo- 
rary in its construction, and that was destined to fade away 
suddenly as a leaf, in deference to the structure of a master 
builder from Geneva, of a diviner mind and more cunning 
hand ? God forbid ! The very thought is enough to rouse 
old Calvin from his bed of clay, and cause him with greater 
energy to pronounce his far famed anathema, against all 
who would not reverently submit to a reformed hierarchy, 
like that of the church of England. 

What means then tins idle imagination, pertaining to 
new churches, so prevalent in our land? The apostle 
assures us of the spiritual rock, figuratively broached in 
the wilderness, that it " was Christ." And upon this rock, 
not Peter, he builds his church. Against this church, he 
promises that " the gates of hell shall not prevail." And 
no matter what those gates are, whether they represent the 
powers of darkness, or, as is better interpreted, the closed 
barriers of paradise, to be finally opened, at the resurrec- 
tion, for the egress of the saints of the Most High ; no 
matter for this, precisely as the rock, Christ, remains dura- 
ble as eternity itself, so is the durability imparted to the 
church. The blasting of the one is no more impossible, 
than the rending asunder the inseparable cement, by which 
the two are united. 

Nor can I refrain from reminding you, who are so de- 
cidedly hostile to the continuance of the apostolick office in 
these latter days, that Jesus himself had no such aversion 
to the most intimate conjunction with its incumbents, in the 
foundation he laid for Zion and Jerusalem. It is in this 
aspect, that Paul exultingly congratulates his converts : 
" Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, 
but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of 
God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles 
and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner- 



SERMON XIV. 



179 



stone : In whom all the building, fitly framed together, 
groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord : In whom ye 
also are builded together for a habitation of God through 
the Spirit." 

A more perfect consolidation, I cannot sketch. Here is 
union from the corner, all round the base, and springing 
upward, until ye reach the topmost stone of the building. 
No "middle wall of partition" appears. Formerly it 
separated between Jews and gentiles ; but it was broken 
down by Christ, " to make in -himself of twain one new 
man, so making peace ; and that he might reconcile both 
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity 
thereby." And this building, this one body, ye would 
duplicate and reduplicate ad infinitum, not by an exact 
transcript, but by knocking out a stone here and a stone 
there, until all traces of unity and coherence are vanished, 
and a mass of ruins alone greets the eye of the adversary. 
What fatuity, what madness is this ! Brethren it may 
not, cannot be. The work of your own hands ye may 
raise, and this ye may destroy, because it is baseless. But 
the church of the living God, built upon the foundation of 
the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the 
chief corner-stone ;" this, ye may rely upon it, will forever, 
mock every effort of human skill and prowess, whether 
they proceed from the camp of mistaken believers, or from 
the trenches manned by incorrigible reprobates. 

Do your features relax into a smile, something more 
than dubious? Go to the twenty first chapter of the 
visions of John, and an angel will show you" the bride, the 
Lamb's wife," "the holy Jerusalem, descending out of 
heaven from God." Glorious is her appearing, and brilliant 
is the light sparkling from gem to gem, and radiated from 
the multitude with which she is garnished. But this is not 
all. The city " had a wall great and high." And on what 
was it built ? Was it on some one or all of the names, so 
proudly blazoned forth, as the founders of I know not how 
many modern sects of pseudo-origin and authority ? No, 
no such thing : " The wall of the city had twelve founda- 
tions, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the 
Lamb." Nothing less modern than these grace the record 
of God. Ye cannot point me to a presbyter, the most 
renowmed in your ranks, who has been adjudged worthy 



180 



SERMON XIV. 



to displace the least of the apostles from the station he 
occupied, by the appointment of the Lord Jesus. The 
apostolick church is the same with the church of the 
apocalypse, " coming down from God out of heaven, 
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." 

I know, that ye may plausibly insist, that twelve founda- 
tions and twelve apostles are alone recognised, in the grand 
scenick representation, to which I have adverted. Ye 
may object, that our system identifies every bishop as one 
of the apostles of Christ, thus making myriads of the order 
to succeed the first, on whom it was conferred. How 
then, it will be asked, are we to account for the limited 
number composing the foundation of Zion ? By the same 
rule, brethren, that all other prototypes indicate the per- 
petuated copy, the twelve apostles are the representatives 
of the whole body of their successors in office. If ye 
transcend this, and maintain that the number twelve, ap- 
pearing under such imposing circumstances, is conclusive 
evidence, that no other individuals enjoyed the apostolick 
dignity, I meet you with the case of Paul, who was not 
one of the original twelve ; who was not even selected to 
supply the vacancy, created by the defection and death of 
Judas. And yet, his apostleship is questioned by no chris- 
tian ; yet must ye admit, that, according to your reckoning, 
to have the numbers tally exactly, there should be thir- 
teen foundations of the holy city and in them the names of 
thirteen apostles. But such is not the burden of the vision. 
This is a revelation where figures are concerned, and 
figures do not lie ; figures are more unmanageable, do 
more easily resist the tortuous process of biblical criticism, 
than the doctrinal passages of the sacred volume. 

From what has been said, the inference is irresistible : 
" Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which 
is Jesus Christ." He alone sent the twelve as he was sent. 
He alone wrought them into the foundation of that build- 
ing, of which he is the chief corner-stone. If ye have pow- 
er to remove them, his removal cannot be obviated nor de- 
layed. With his apostles, he will be alway, even unto 
the end of the world. Does the doctrine startle you, breth- 
ren ? From the idea of such displacement, do ye recoil 
with the shudder of horrour and amazement 1 I know 
you do. No intention can ye indulge of so outraging the 



SERMON XIV. 



181 



persons of Christ and his chosen family. And take ye 
good heed, that ye do not ignorantly involve yourselves in 
the peril. The moment that ye perceive it to be already 
crossing your path, and obstructing the road to Zion, that 
very moment, " cease to do evil ; learn to do well ;" " cease 
ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils ; for wherein 
is he to be accounted of?" and put ye your trust and con- 
fidence in the Lord and the Lord alone. 

Many arguments have been set in order before you, by 
which ye may be easily convincsd, that the church of the 
gospel, including its ministry, is a good and perfect gift, 
which came down from the Father of lights, with whom is 
no variableness nor shadow of turning. Clearly has it been 
proved to you, that it was designed to be permanent and 
immutable. By means of testimony piled upon testimony, 
has it been shown you, that it was divinely constructed 
and revealed ; in other words, taught and commanded of 
God. And have I also satisfactorily discussed the es- 
sentials of religion, making them to consist in the whole of 
his commandments ? Have I perfectly succeeded in per- 
suading you, that the practice of them in their integrity, 
overlooking none and despising none, is the substance of 
holy obedience and of insurmountable obligation ? Hesitate 
not to act in immediate compliance with your duty on the 
one hand, and your convictions on the other. 

In the ensuing admonition of our Saviour Christ, the en- 
tire subject may be considered briefly condensed ; while 
the significant metaphor, " upon this rock, I will build my 
church," stands out with prominent and portentous inter- 
est. " Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things 
which I say ? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my 
sayings, and doth them, I will show you to whom he is 
like. He is like a man which built a house, and digged 
deep, and laid the foundation on a rock ; and when the flood 
arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could 
not shake it ; for it was founded upon a rock. But he that 
heareth, and doth not, is like a man, that without a foun- 
dation built a house upon the earth ; against which the 
stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell ; and 
the ruin of that house was great." 

But it is possible, that some of my readers may not be 
satisfied, unless the positions, taken in relation to the church 



182 



SERMON XIV. 



be fortified by an array of opinions from a quarter, less 
suspicious in their judgment than mine. Appealing then 
to your own authorities, brethren, I find the most ample tes- 
timony to the divine institution of the christian church and 
hierarchy. In the form of presbyterial church gov- 
ernment, put forth by the Westminster assembly of di- 
vines, the doctrine is precisely similar to what I have ad- 
vanced : " There is one general church visible, held forth 
in the new testament. The ministry, oracles, and ordinan- 
ces of the new testament, are given by Jesus Christ to the 
general church visible, for the gathering and perfecting of 
it in this life, until his second coming." In their celebrated 
confession of faith, it is said ; " Unto this catholick visible 
church Christ hath given the ministry, oracles, and ordin- 
ances of God, for the gathering and perfecting of the saints 
in this life, to the end of the world ; and doth by his own 
presence and Spirit, according to his promise, make them 
effectual thereunto." In these two brief extracts, the uni- 
ty of the visible church is legibly written, the divine origin 
of its ministry, the obligation of all saints to join it, and the 
permanency of its foundation to the end of the world. 

Should ye even demand a more decided expression of 
the obligation, on which I have enlarged, the same confes- 
sion shall supply it. " They who, upon pretence of chris- 
tian liberty, shall oppose any lawful power or the lawful 
exercise of it, whether it be civil or ecclesiastical, resist the 
ordinance of God." " The visible church, which is also 
catholick or universal under the gospel, (not confined to 
one nation as before the law,) consists of all those through- 
out the world that profess the true religion, together with 
their children, and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Chrisi, 
the house and family of God, out of which there is no or- 
dinary possibility of salvation." " The Lord Jesus, as king 
and head of his church, hath. therein appointed a govern- 
ment in the hand of church officers, distinct from the civil 
magistrate. To these officers the keys of the kingdom of 
heaven are committed, by virtue whereof they have pow- 
er respectively to retain and remit sins, to shut that king- 
dom against the impenitent, both by the word and cen- 
sures, and to open it unto penitent sinners, by the ministry 
of the gospel, and by absolution from censures, as occasion 
shall require." " As there is no sin so small but it de- 



SERMON XIV. 



183 



serves damnation ; so there is no sin so great that it can 
bring damnation upon those who truly repent." 

To the force of such language, there is no necessity of 
appending an elaborate commentary of mine. Most dis- 
tinctly does it announce the authority of the visible church, 
and that authority were nothing, unless men were obliged 
to submit to it. Boldly does it affirm, that without its 
pale " there is no ordinary possibility of salvation," and an 
extraordinary possibility is not to be predicated of free- 
agents, in a free christian land. Decisively does it reject 
the venial, the almost innocent, character of little sins, 
maintaining that they do deserve damnation unless repent- 
ed of, and I discern not how this can be reconciled with 
the breach of positive institutions. 

Consult Calvin, and he will tell you ; " Forgiveness of 
sins is a benefit so proper to the church, that we cannot 
otherwise enjoy it, but if we abide in the communion there- 
of. It is distributed unto us by the ministers and pastors, 
either by preaching the gospel, or by ministering of the 
sacraments. Wherefore let every one of us think this to 
be his duty, no where else to seek forgiveness of sins, than 
where the Lord hath left it." 

Consult professor Miller, and schism receives this severe 
castigation at his hands ; " The sin and folly of men have 
separated into different bodies those who ought to walk to- 
gether. Still," he adds, " the visible church is one." As 
much as to say, in palpable contradiction of the scriptures, 
different bodies make one body. With the first sentence 
I have no quarrel ; and in another connexion the addition 
were equally good. United, a more perfect paradox was 
never penned. Afterwards he more justly argues, "It is 
evident that no one is at liberty, in the sight of God, to 
neglect uniting himself with the church. Man cannot and 
ought not to compel him. But if he refuse to fulfil this 
duty when it is in his power, he rejects the authority of 
God. He of course refuses at his peril." 

Innumerable authorities to the same effect might be ea- 
sily culled from the volumes of dissent. It was the church 
for which Christ died, and loudly have they insisted upon 
the promises of his salvation being restricted to the church. 
But my purposes are fully answered by a limited refer- 
ence. Enough has been selected to stir up your minds, 



184 



Sermon xiv. 



beloved brethren, to a more accurate investigation of the 
melancholy condition of the christian world. Schism is 
the cause. Against schism all true protestants should 
league together, that it may be frowned out of counte- 
nance ; that it may never more disturb the harmony, ruf- 
fle the temper, kindle the animosity, or in any shape break 
the charity of those, who ought to love one another with 
a pure heart fervently. And this, may Almighty God of 
his infinite mercy grant. Earnestly may all believers seek 
to become one body, as he is one God and Father of all. 
Auspiciously may he smile upon the effort, so ordering the 
same, that it may speedily be brought to good effect. And 
to Him, with the Son and Holy Ghost, in the unity of an 
undivided Godhead, shall be ascribed everlasting praises. 
Amen. 



SERMON XV, 



ISAIAH Lxir. 1. 

for zion's saks will i not hold my peace, and for 
Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
e'- r t3ne83 thereof go forth as brightness, and the 
salvation thereof as a lam? that burnetii. 

There is still remaining a most powerful testimony to 
the integrity and perpetuity of the church and its min- 
istry, which I have purposely reserved to this stage of the 
discussion, because nothing could more appropriately pre- 
cede a cursory glance at the fatal heresies, springing up 
with astonishing fecundity, wherever the bold heresiarch, 
schism, scatters the deadly seed. With another object 
in view, I have already transcribed the memorable charge 
of Paul to Timothy ; " These things write I unto thee, 
hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I tarry long, 
that thou mayest know how thou o ugh test to behave thy- 
self in the house of God, which is the church of the living 
God, the pillar and ground of the truth." Irresistibly dees 
it remind me of the previous declaration of Jesus, in 
reply to the question of Pilate ; " To this end was I born, 
and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear 
witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth 
heareth my voice." 

Harmoniously then, brethren, do the bridegroom and 
the bride fulfil the law of their being. During the 
days of his incarnation, filled as he was with the Spirit 
beyond measure, from the lips of Christ, truth was distil- 
led as the dew. It fell as so many drops of rain, gemmed 
with rays of light from the parent luminary. After his 
ascension, faithfnl did he prove to the pledge given to his 
disciples, " It is expedient for you that I go away ; for if 

16 



188 



SERMON X V # 



I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; 
but if I depart. I will send him unto you." And when the 
event occurred, faithfully did they, on their part, respond 
to the promise, " When he, the Spirit of truth is come, he 
will guide you into all truth." No imputations do I hear 
cast upon the apostles, that they shrunk from the fearless 
avowal of sound doctrine and unimpeachable morals. 
Boldly did they preach Christ and him crucified. They 
fought a good fight. They nobly earned their station, side 
by side with the chief corner-stone, upholding the walls 
of Zion. 

In this aspect it is, that the church is the ground of the 
truth. Purchased by the blood of Jesus and watered by 
that of the twelve, a better foundation it could not have, 
nor one so perfectly invulnerable to the undermining as- 
saults of errour. And built upon this, after this manner 
rooted and grounded in the faith, is it to be wondered at, that 
she should also bear the designation of the pillar of the truth ? 
Nothing could be more apposite ; and history will show, 
that nothing could be more characteristick. Wherever 
this united pillar and ground has been the shrine, before 
which human hearts have bow T ed, in adoration of the most 
high God ; wherever this church of the Redeemer has 
been, in the language of the twentieth article of religion, 
>: - a witness and a keeper of holy writ," there " mercy and 
truth are met together ; righteousness and peace have 
kissed each other f there, henceforth and forever, truth 
shall spring out of the earth ; and righteousness shall look 
down from heaven." 

Do ye question the statement ? Anticipating what is 
to follow, do ye scorn every attempt to fasten the charge 
of heresy upon those men or their lineal descendants, who 
have forsaken the gospel pillar and ground of the truth ? 
First, let me present you, brethren, with a passage from 
the scriptures, in full corroboration of all that I have ad- 
vanced or shall advance, pertaining to the apostolick 
church and its ministry on the one hand, and such as have 
risen up in opposition on the other. Paul is speaking of 
Jesus, and after informing us that " he gave some, apostles : 
and some, prophets ; and some, evangelists ; and some, 
pastors and teachers ;" after this, he proceeds to assign the 
objects intended to be accomplished by our Saviour. All 



SERMON XV . 187 

this was done, " for the perfecting of the saints, for the 
work of the ministry, for the edifying of the bodv of 
Christ. Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of 
the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, 
unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ ; 
that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, 
and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the 
sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in 
wait to deceive ; but speaking the truth in love, may 
grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even 
Christ." 

By no graphick powers possessed by me, could the 
value of the church and its ministry be more clearly por- 
trayed. These were the divinely ordained instruments, 
for the propagation and preservation of the truth. The 
church speaks by its ministers, and the saints are per- 
fected, the whole body is edified. Guarded by their 
watchful eye and warned by their persuasive lips, the flock 
of Christ escape the ravening of the enemies of its peace. 
In the shape of false teachers, they cannot secure a lodg- 
ment within the sacred fold. There are no prurient 
ears to listen with avidity to the first whisperings of 
errour. There are no unstable and inconstant vanes, to 
be whirled round and round to every point of the compass, 
as the gasts and storms of heresy, from one quarter and 
another, furiously assail the majestick pillar of the truth. 
Were I to compare it with aught of human origin, it 
should be to that noble column, which, springing from the 
seagirt rock of Eddystone, towers magnificently toward 
heaven, and from the proudest summit, disdaining the 
strife of winds and waves, pours its beacon light far 
as the eye can reach, that all who plough the angry deep 
may learn, where clanger lurks and where destruction 
yawns. 

Early did our Saviour proclaim, "If any man shall say un- 
to you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not. For there 
shall arise false christs and false prophets, and shall show 
great signs and wonders ; insomuch that, if it were possi- 
ble they shall deceive the very elect." In the same strain, 
did the apostle Peter continue, " There were false prophets 
also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers 
among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, 



188 'SERMON XV. 

even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon 
themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow 
their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of 
truth shall be evil spoken of." According to Jude, "There 
are certain men crept in unawares," who " despise domin- 
ion and speak evil of dignities." " Wo unto them ! for 
they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after 
the errour of Balaam for reward, and perished in the 
gainsaying of Core." 

Cain, ye may remember, would not sacrifice after the 
appointed way. Balaam would fain have cursed the 
Israel whom God had blessed. Korah sought the highest 
office of the priesthood, only to go down alive into the pit 
for his presumption. In what precedes, the apostle speaks 
of such as would not be warned by their example. In 
what follows, ye have this more alarming description ; 
" These are spots in your feasts of charity ; when they 
feast with you, feeding themselves without fear ; clouds 
they are without water, carried about of winds ; trees 
whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked 
up by the roots ; raging waves of the sea, foaming out 
their own shame ; wandering stars, to whom is reserved 
the blackness of darkness forever." Not to quote the 
whole of the epistle, most significantly is it added, " these 
be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the 
Spirit ;" that is, the Spirit of truth. 

What reprobation could be more explicit ? With what 
denunciation, could the agents and the inroads of schism 
be more severely rebuked ? If all this does not establish 
the necessity of a christian priesthood, " called of God as 
was Aaron ;" if all this does not invalidate the imaginary 
claims of a humanly devised ministry, and at the same 
time verify the right of the apostolick church to be enti- 
tled " the pillar and ground of the truth," language has lost 
its meaning, and inspiration becomes an enigma, not to be 
solved by those of women born. But into no such per- 
plexity are we thrown. False teaching and separation do 
join hand in hand. Hereticks and schismaticks, like the 
Siamese twins, are, in the word of God, bound together by 
a ligature, which no art or sophistry shall be adequate to 
unloose. Whoever would effectually suppress them must 



SERMON XV. 



189 



wield the sword of the Spirit, as it was wielded by the 
hands of the apostles. 

Timothy was one, and to him the requisite authority 
was given ; " Against an elder receive not an accusation 
but before two or three witnesses. Them that sin rebuke 
before ail, that others also may fear." Titus was another, 
and this is his warrant ; " There are many unruly and 
vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circum- 
cision ; whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole 
houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy 
lucre's sake." " A man that is a heretick, after the first 
and second admonition, reject ; knowing- that he that is 
such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of him- 
self." The angel or bishop of the church of Ephesus was 
a third, and thus highly is he eulogized by him " that hold- 
eth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the 
midst of the seven golden candlesticks. I know thy works, 
and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not 
bear them which are evil ; and thou hast tried them which 
say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them 
liars." 

Throughout the seven brief epistles to the seven angels 
of the Asiatick churches, there is indeed abundant evidence, 
not only of the power lodged with them, but of the divine 
displeasure against the corruptions thus early introduced by 
a spurious ministry. Twice are the seducers and the se- 
duced denominated " the synagogue of Satan." Thiee times 
are the sectaries designated by name, as " the Nicolai- 
tans ;" " them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who 
taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children 
of Israel ;" and the followers of " that woman Jezebel, 
which calleth herself a prophetess to teach and seduce my 
servants." Repeatedly are the heresies specified, which 
were entertained by them and others. The terrour of the 
Lord is freely employed to awaken their fears, and loudly 
are they admonished to repent. 

By these copious extracts from the sacred records, 
triumphantly then, brethren, do I authenticate the grand ob- 
ject, designed to be accomplished by the gospel ministry, 
in the gospel church. It was to furnish truth, such truth 
as Jesus taught, with intrepid champions and a safe depos- 
itary. It was to provide barriers against the assaults of 

Id* 



190 



S E R M O N X V . 



hereticks and heresy, not to be carried by the insolence of 
their speech, nor to be stormed by the proudest army they 
can summon to the field. In all such contests, death itself 
is but another name for victory. Ye have often heard, 
and if occasion require, it shall again and again be glorious- 
ly avouched on the rack and at the stake, by the fagot and 
the flame, that " the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the 
church." 

But I have intimated, that history would confirm the 
views entertained by me, on this imposing theme. Ay, 
brethren, history with its stubborn facts, but too clear- 
ly indicates the necessity of adhering to divine institu- 
tions, in the precise form the}^ were enjoined upon hu- 
man observance. Calmly and dispassionately peruse its 
pages, and ye will cease to wonder at the high praise, be- 
stowed upon the church, in the oracles of God. If we 
could imagine his throne to be established in the zenith, as 
the pillar of the truth, it points more undeviatingly there 
than the needle to the pole. The one has its librations ; 
the other is always vertical. Show me the church, with- 
out the baleful intermeddling of some usurping power, 
some emperour in his might, some metropolitan in his pride 
of place, some presbyter in his aspiring ; and I will show 
you " the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." 
Direct me to a manifest departure from the simplicity of 
the heavenly pattern ; and I will direct you to heresies, so 
numerous and perverse, not to use a harsher epithet, that, 
we may rightly aver, their name is legion. 

What ye have heard recited from the scriptures was but 
the beginning of strife and dissension. The opposers of 
the apostles never could brook the unity, insisted upon by 
these messengers from God. From one of your own 
writers, whose candour was equal to his learning, I will 
furnish you with a statement, which all your researches in 
ecclesiastical annals will not enable you to invalidate. Ac- 
cording to the celebrated Grotius, " We may lay down this, 
that great advantages redounded to the church from the 
episcopate. The history of all ages proclaims this. But 
I will again use that witness, who of all antiquity least 
favoured bishops, that is, Jerome. He says, 4 It was de- 
creed through the whole world, that one chosen from the 
presbyters should be set over the rest to take away schisms 



SERMON XV. 



191 



and dissensions.' The same elsewhere says ; ■* The safety 
of the church depends upon the dignity of the chief priest, 
that is, of the bishop, to whom if a certain independent 
power be not given, and by all, there will be made as many 
schisms in the church as priests.' Neither is that different, 
which Cyprian so many times inculcates ; ' Whence have 
schisms and heresies arisen, and whence do they arise still, 
unless when the bishop, who is one and presides over the 
church, is despised by the proud presumption of some V 
And elsewhere ; ' Neither indeed have heresies arisen, or 
schisms sprung from any other quarter than this, that obe- 
dience is not paid to the priest of God, neither is there cho- 
sen one priest and a judge in the place of Christ, at a time 
in the church." 

The voice of antiquity is therefore clearly in accordance 
with the voice of scripture. One of your ablest and your 
best acknowledges this, on the concurrent testimony of 
two of the most renowned of the fathers. Jerome ex- 
pressly recognises the object of clerical pre-eminence to be, 
as I have stated, the prevention oi schism. In this aspect, he 
identifies the safety of the church, with the inviolability of 
the episcopal office. While Cyprian boldly charges, not 
only all the schisms but all the heresies, to the want of rever- 
ent obedience to the authority, vested in the bishop by the 
divine will. 

And the errour of that early age is the errour of this, 
in successful operation. The more the subject is examin- 
ed, the more indubitably will it appear, that all tampering 
with the christian hierarchy, so as to change its form from 
the pure model, designed by the heavenly architect, results 
in the most fatal corruptions of the truth as it is in Jesus. 
Take, for instance, the Roman church. It retains indeed 
the three orders of bishop, presbyter, and deacon ; and re- 
taining them, the validity of its episcopal ordinations is by 
no means questioned. What then is the productive cause of 
all those unscriptural doctrines and practices, which sully 
the standards of her faith, and bring down disgrace upon 
her altars ? Every eye turns almost instinctively to Rome. 
There ye may see, throned in the Vatican and avowedly 
occupying saint Peter's chair, there ye may see the radical 
cause of the vast amount of heresy and superstition, which 
still loudly call for the reforming hand and the dexterous 



192 



SERMON XV. 



application of the pruning knife. The Romanists have 
not lopped off any of the clerical members of the body 
of Christ. But to the three divinely ordained, they have 
added a fourth, calling him the pope, the single vicegerent 
of Christ upon earth, the bishop of bishops, the apostle of 
apostles. 

Long centuries indeed had rolled away, before such an 
ecclesiastick was known to the christian world. By de- 
grees, so faintly marked as to be nearly imperceptible, the 
once humble bishop of Rome, whose smallest pretensions 
had been dormant three hundred years at least from the 
beginning, grew up, by the seventh century, into the port 
and dignity of a sovereign pontiff. The kingdom of Christ 
was not of this world. But in due time, his alleged special 
representative, in addition to his personal territories, arro- 
gated a prescriptive right to discovered and undiscovered 
lands, to states and empires, to all beneath the light of heav- 
en ! Monarchs bent the pliant knee before him, and were 
glad to enjoy the privilege of wearing a crown, obsequious 
to his nod ! In the latin or western church, he was very 
near assuming the air, and exerting the omnipotence of a 
god ! 

And to this fatal usurpation, brethren, this morbid ex- 
crescence upon the visible body, are we indebted for the 
still bleeding wounds of Zion, with a medley of traditions 
and absurdities, neither heard of nor thought of, in the 
primitive age. I know very well, that the modern papists 
contend for the infallibility of the church, rather than that 
of its imaginary head. But since the council of Trent, let 
them say what they please, the pope has been with them 
the sole interpreter of divine things. He determines what, 
is and what is not the Roman catholick doctrine. He is 
virtually an infallible fountain of authority, so infallible, that 
no bishop dare gainsay the wisdom of his decretals, or re- 
sist the mandates of his superintending power. Under 
other circumstances, we might hope for new accessions of 
light and new demonstrations in the work of reform. But 
long as he is regarded as the center of unity to the chris- 
tian faith, long as the really well intentioned of the Roman 
bishops imagine this state of things, this actual conversion 
of a common episcopate into a universal dominion, to be of 
divine appointment, so long will they submit to the many 



SERMON XV. 



193 



grievances they cannot but feel ; and, yielding private to 
official judgment, sincerely believe that, which, though it 
plays tricks with the mind, is utterly incompetent to juggle 
the senses. 

Not intending to go into a full investigation of the er- 
rours of the Romish creed, I here allude to the doc- 
trine of transubstantiation, or the change of the elements 
of bread and wine, into the crucified body and blood 
of Christ. Nothing could be more preposterous. Of all 
follies, no one has been more thoroughly refuted. It needs 
not the addition of my pen to win a single protestant to 
the same opinion. But inasmuch as this humble volume 
may possibly come under the inspection of some believers, 
in the most debated of the papal dogmas, I venture to sub- 
mit a proof of its fallacy, which, so far as my reading ex- 
tends, is new, and that I have the confidence to maintain is 
no less conclusive than new. 

Immediately after the descent of the Holy Ghost, on the 
day of pentecost, Peter, in the first apostoiick sermon, in- 
troduces the memorable prediction of the psalmist ; " thou 
wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine 
Holy One to see corruption." He introduces it, not as spo- 
ken by David in relation to himself, but with this unequiv- 
ocal comment ; k< Being a prophet, and knowing that God 
had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, 
according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his 
throne ; he, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of 
Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh 
did see corruption." He then proceeds to speak of 
the fulfilment of the prophecy in these terms ; " This 
Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses." 
And if this be not" enough to show, that his body under- 
went not the process of decomposition, the testimony of 
Paul, in the thirteenth chapter of the Acts is clear and de- 
cisive. After quoting this part of the prediction, " thou 
shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption," he says, 
" For David, after he had served his own generation by 
the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fath- 
ers and saw corruption ; but he, whom God raised again, 
saw no corruption." 

Here then both prophet and apostle coincide, in the un- 
doubted exertion of miraculous power, through which the 



194 SERMON XV. 

Holy One left not a particle of his incarnate nature in the 
tomb, to take the common course of our frail mortality. 
It was raised incorruptible. In forty days it ascended up 
into heaven, and is forever sat down, at the right hand of 
God the Father. But admit the doctrine of the Romanist 
to be true, admit that the prayer of consecration doth actu- 
ally transubstantiate the sacramental elements, into the body 
and blood of Christ, and, contrary to the positive declara- 
tion of the divine word, the Holy One does see corruption. 
The elements, being consumed, differ not in their destiny 
from all other nutritious substances. Part of them, for in- 
stance, enter into the composition of the human frame of 
the recipient. And when he lies down in the dust, there 
they also lie ; when he says " to corruption, thou art my 
father." they unite in the saying; when the clay cold corpse 
becomes a mass of putrescence, they have neither inherent 
virtue nor delegated power to keep separate and distinct 
from the common ruin. 

So true it is, that the theory of transubstantiation is 
among the fondest of all fond conceits. To hold it is 
equivalent to falsifying the sure word of prophecy. It is 
pouring contempt upon the authority of Peter and Paul. 
It puts it within the ability of every Roman priest, to con- 
sign the pure body of Christ to be desecrated in those 
gloomy caverns, where the worm parades his banquet. 
Instead of being altogether immaculate, altogether glori- 
fied in the presence of God, for eighteen hundred years 
parts thereof have been continually going 1 down into I know 
not how many cemeteries of the dead, until the aggregate of its 
corruption, as much transcends that of bodies the most cor- 
ruptible, as it does the boundaries of all rational belief. I 
would as soon put my faith in necromancy, as send in my 
adhesion to such matchless insanity, such palpable contra- 
diction of the volume of eternal truth. 

But catholick emancipation, emancipation from the thral- 
dom of the pope, is the only remedy, by which the eyes of 
papists can be effectually made to discern the multifarious 
tissue of absurdities, belonging to their ancient superstition. 
Cut off that interloping member, and the death warrant is 
signed of heresies, numerous in amount and inveterate in 
quality. Their strong hold is the absence of that simple 
form of episcopacy, disclosed in holy oracles, wherein all 



SERMON X V. 



195 



the apostles or bishops enjoy the like honour, and are enti- 
tled to the like independent jurisdiction. Restore the gos- 
pel ministry to its legitimate position, let every Roman 
bishop be what he ought to be, the exclusive bishop of his 
diocess, and a step is taken, which would ere long return 
the wanderer of rolling centuries, into the bosom of the 
primitive church. 

Nor is it to be seriously denied, that similar remarks ap- 
ply, with equal force and propriety, to the nucleus, round 
which is gathered such an infinite variety of discordant ma- 
terials. I mean presbyterianism, or the presbyterian hy- 
pothesis, in relation to the ministry of Christ. It reverses 
the Roman theory, and instead of adding one subtracts 
two from the number, rightly ordained to serve in heavenly 
things. And dreadful have been the heresies, propagated 
by this newly invented agent of strife and division. The 
continent of Europe was its birth place, and there, under 
its disastrous influence, protestantism has almost ceased to 
exist. It has indeed a name to live, and its churches are 
no less presbyterian, in their clerical organization, than in 
the time of Calvin. But beyond this, a barren desert pains 
the spiritual vision, with scarce the semblance of the bread 
of life to appease the famished appetite, scarce one well of 
the water of life to quench the raging thirst. Though ye 
were to say, of the original reformers upon the presbyteri- 
an plan, as Jesus said of his disciples, " Ye are the salt of 
the earth," yet is it impossible to exonerate the most of 
their European descendants from the blame-worthiness at- 
tached to the melancholy alternative ; " But if the salt have 
lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted ? It is thence- 
forth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trod- 
den under foot of men." 

In addition to the details, appearing in the volume, to 
which this is subsidiary, I have some further proofs on the 
subject, gleaned from your own writers, and to which ye 
cannot, brethren, upon any justifiable plea, refuse to yield 
implicit credit. What then is the description given by 
doctor Sprague of Albany, of the condition of the presby- 
terian church, in the south of France, so late as eighteen 
hundred and twenty eight ? "I regret to learn that the 
moral habits of the protestants do not differ materially from 
those of the catholicks ; that both mingle together in making 



196 



SERMON XV. 



the afternoon of the sabbath a season of sport, in attending 
parties of pleasure, balls, the theatre, et cetera." 

What more cheering picture does he draw, after having 
arrived at what was once bruited abroad, as the head 
quarters of good principles ? You shall have it word for 
word, in all its deplorable minuteness. " I have already 
alluded to the well known fact, that the protestant church 
of Geneva has greatly departed from the faith of the 
early reformers. Most of their present ministers are un- 
questionably unitarians of the German school, though it is 
believed there are a few whose religious views are, in the 
main, evangelical. Here, as in most places in France, I 
understand that there is very little that charity herself can 
believe to be vital piety. It is difficult to conceive of a 
more distressing comment on the state of religion here, 
than is found in the fact, that not professors only, but min- 
isters, think it a very innocent thing to spend part of the 
sabbath in a party of pleasure or in a ball room ! The 
theological school, which is a part of the academy, num- 
bers forty students, all of whom, I understand, are the ad- 
vocates of a lax theology. Two young gentlemen, who 
were connected with the institution, when doctor Maian 
was ejected, have since decidedly avowed evangelical sen- 
timents, have been expelled from the Genevan church, and 
are now, with two others, studying theology under his 
direction ; so that he considers himself as having actually 
commenced an orthodox theological seminary. But, while 
I have great pleasure in bearing testimony to doctor 
Malan's piety and zeal in the cause of evangelical religion, 
I must repeat my conviction that he is not alone, as has 
been sometimes represented, in the good work ; and that 
even in the church of Geneva, corrupt as it is, there are 
some who hold and love the truth as it is in Jesus." 

Soon after, he proceeds to furnish us with an anecdote, 
highly illustrative of the state of things, to which the read- 
er's attention has been directed. " A gentleman of this 
city, who knew Voltaire well, and who is a leading man 
in the Genevan church, remarked to me that he had a most 
excellent heart ! I could not but consider the remark, in 
connexion with other observations which fell from him, as 
furnishing proof that his own heart was not the more ex- 
cellent for Voltaire's influence." 



SERMON XV. 



197 



Such then is the melancholy predicament, to which we 
find the church of God reduced, where a renowned re- 
former first tried his experimental hand upon the gospel 
ministry ; where presbyterianism achieved its first triumph, 
in opposition to the nobler hierarchy, established in the 
word of God, and commended to our affections, by the 
universal homage accorded to it, by all that antiquity can 
boast of learning and zeal, of unflinching faith and holy 
obedience. From the most unexceptionable testimony, we 
prove to you, brethren, the inauspicious influence, exerted 
by your favourite ministerial parity, in a city, wherein, from 
the circumstance of its having there enjoyed the earliest 
local habitation, it should, if deserving, have won a brighter 
name and decked itself with a more radiant crown. It 
promised much. Where is the fruit ? It talked proudly 
and loftily, as if the wide world would ere long hail its 
appearance, and shout hosannas to its praise, from the 
rising of the sun to the going down thereof. Where is the 
performance ? What missionary looks to Geneva as his 
natal soil ? What heathen hearts, enfranchised from the 
worst of bondage, leap with rapture, at the faintest breath- 
ing of her name ? Alas ! that ye should be compelled to 
acknowledge, the live coal is not visible on her lurid altars ; 
fragrant incense does not there take its heavenward flight 
The form of religion, to whose ministrations ye are so 
strangely attached, could not endure the rigour of that un- 
congenial clime, without a corresponding internal change. 
The glaciers were too cold. The mighty avalanche has 
rushed impetuous from its dizzy, beetling height, and, be- 
neath a huge pile of superincumbent frost and snow, in the 
shape of unitarianism, lies buried the corpse of the Calvin- 
istick church. 

Melancholy predicament indeed ! Most of you will 
agree with me, that the figure is not too strong for the oc- 
casion. And the residue, could they, in our own country 
and with their own eyes, witness the holy sabbath to be so 
horribly profaned, so clad in the vestments and prostituted 
to the sports of a gala day, so rife with the musick of the 
ball room, so changed from the godlike rest of the sanctu- 
ary to the tumult and hilarity of the theatre ; even the 
residue would recoil with amazement from the scene^ 
would blush at the outrages upon the sacred day, enforced 
17 



198 



SERMON XV. 



by their foreign brethren, and exclaim, If this be presby- 
terianism, this the issue of the hapless schism, in which we 
are involved, adieu to such a reformer, a long adieu, while 
there is yet a spark of piety in the awakened soul, and 
grace sufficient to make an effective movement, on the 
road to heaven. 

Highly therefore, brethren, must I think of the honesty 
of your purposes, and fervently do I pray, that the opin- 
ion, entertained and expressed, may be fully justified by 
the event. There is still a vast amount of proof remain- 
ing, to demand a fearless exposure from my pen, and a 
candid employment of the best faculties ye can summon 
to the perusal. The former ye shall have ; and God of 
his infinite mercy grant, that the latter may not be absent, 
to render fruitless an honest effort to promote the Re- 
deemer's cause, by putting the redeemed into the right 
understanding of the church, for which he shed his all 
atoning blood. So shall his glorious name be the more 
honoured by you, the more extensively made known to 
the children of men. And to him, with the Father and 
the Holy Ghost, three persons and one God, shall be 
ascribed all the glory, and honour, and dominion, and 
praise, world without end, Amen. 



SERMON XVI. 



ISAIAH Lxn. L 

for zion's sake will i not hold my peace, and for 
Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETH. 

The argument commenced in the last discourse, is pre- 
dicated upon the ground, that all departures from the three 
fold ministry, divinely ordained, have been signalized by 
the introduction of all manner of false doctrine and un- 
scriptural practice. Papacy is the extreme upon the one 
hand ; and presbyterianism on the other ; and like all other 
extremes, they appear, in the south of France, to have 
cordially effected a junction. " I regret to learn that the 
moral habits of the protestants do not differ materially 
from those of the catholicks ; that both mingle together in 
making the afternoon of the sabbath a season of sport, in 
attending parties of pleasure, balls, the theatre, et cetera." 
In Geneva, " not professors only, but ministers, think it a 
very innocent thing to spend part of the sabbath in a party 
of pleasure, or in a ball room !" What a picture ! All 
your tears, brethren, cannot wash away this stain, not on 
your characters, but upon the fatally constituted schism, 
to which you so tenaciously adhere. " Wherefore, come 
out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, 
and touch not the unclean thing." 

The writer of the preceding extracts has also taken 
care to inform us, speaking of Geneva ; " Most of their 
present ministers are unquestionably unitarians of the 
German school." What then is the state of religion in 
that extensive tract of country, to which he refers, origin- 
ally reformed upon and still retaining the presbyterian 



200 



SERMON XVI. 



polity ? My answer shall be given in some copious details 
from the published travels of one of your own country- 
men, the son of the late highly distinguished president 
D wight of New Haven. 

Adverting to a long pending controversy, he says, 
" Daring this theological contest, the genuineness and au- 
thenticity of the old testament was first attacked, and out- 
work after outwork was gained, until ail belief in it, as a 
revelation, was almost literally exploded from Germany. 
The epistles of the new testament were afterwards as- 
sailed with the same weapons. The inspiration of one 
writep after another ceased to be believed, until by an almost 
equally lar^e proportion of the theologians, they were 
also viewed as unworthy of regard, except so far as they 
contain a beautiful system of morality, and so far as they 
are historically interesting from their instrumentality in 
spreading Christianity. At a subsequent period, the gos- 
pels were attacked in a similar manner. The character of 
Christ was soon generally believed by the clergy, to have 
no more claim to our respect than those of Plato and Aris- 
totle, unless from the greater purity of his example and of 
his code of morals, and from his exhibition of powers of 
intellect, which most of them would have probably ad- 
mitted to be much superiour to these of the Greek philo- 
sophers." 

Such is the neologism, the rationalism, in plain English, 
the infidelity of the German presbyterian church. You 
may possibly contend, that your one ordered ministry had 
nothing to do, in bringing about so calamitous a result, so 
entire an overthrow of all that christians have been ac- 
customed to revere as holy and reverend, supernatural and 
inspired. But the facts are against you, brethren, and up- 
on such an array of them shall ye have ample opportuni- 
ty to ponder, that I flatter myself with the hope of dis- 
possessing every particle of incredulity from your minds. 

In the mean time, the writer before us shall give his own 
thoughts upon the subject, the more to be prized, because 
he little dreamed of the chaplet of praise, he was braiding 
.for episcopacy, when England is so honoured, and Ger- 
many, with its presbyterian clergy, so severely rebuked. 
" The influence of this almost universal skepticism was not 
surpassed by that of the French philosophers, during the 



SERMON XVI. 



201 



middle and latter part of the eighteenth century. If it is 
asked, why did not infidelity gain a similar victory in Eng- 
land ? The reply is, that the clergy of Great Britain, have 
always been on the side of revelation, while those of Ger- 
many, with very few exceptions, were its most violent op- 
ponents. Whenever a people discover that the clergy are 
skeptieks, they will of coarse adopt similar opinions. 
This was the most powerful cause of the overthrow of 
the christian religion among the people of Germany. It 
is true, that a small number of the divines continued firm 
in their belief ; but the number was very limited, and until 
the year eighteen hundred and eight, it was continually de- 
creasing, when they were reduced to a mere handful." 
" So universal was this disbelief, that there were not, in the 
year eighteen hundred and eight, as one of the most dis- 
tinguished orthodox professors informed me, five clergy- 
men, who dared to come forth and declare themselves to 
the world, as belonging to the orthodox party." From 
one of your own ranks, I do therefore abundantly verify 
the detrimental operation of that ministry, which Calvin 
introduced, upon the plea of necessity, and which he 
early made an effort to supersede, in favour of episcopacy, 
that unhappily proved abortive, through the duplicity 
practised by two Roman prelates. 

It is however fair to add, that our traveller, of eighteen 
hundred twenty-five and six, musters sufficient courage to 
announce, that " within the last thirteen years orthodoxy 
has been gaining ground rapidly." But such orthodoxy, 
deriving its new impulse from such motives, as he describes, 
will hardly bear the application of a close analysis. Often 
have I heard, and oftener have I read, that presbyterianism 
has always been a bold assertor of the rights of man; 
a sturdy champion in the cause of liberty and independ- 
ence. And what account does this traveller give, in rela- 
tion to a spirit, so loved and honoured in this patriotick 
age ? "The patronage, which the king of Prussia and some 
of the other monarchs have afforded to orthodoxy, has 
been the principal cause of this change." " He was in- 
duced to select orthodoxy, and thus to avow himself a su- 
pernaturalist, from an opinion, which the orthodox univer- 
sally hold in this country, that resistance to a legitimate 
monarch is a great sin in the eye of God. I was not 

17* 



202 



SERMON XVI. 



aware,, until after my arrival in Germany, that any pro- 
testant sect existed, that still held this doctrine as a part of 
their creed. During my residence here, I have conversed 
with many of the orthodox laity, students, divines, and 
professors ; and I have never met with one, and after re- 
peated inquiries have never heard of one, who did not 
make it an article of his faith. They have not only con- 
tended with me, that we were unjustifiable in our resist- 
ance to England; but they carry this principle so far, 
as to condemn the Greeks for their revolt Ircm the 
Turks. When the success of our revolutionary struggle, 
and the wonderful manner in which heaven has blessed us 
since our independence have been adduced by me, as a 
strong ground for believing that God did not regard it as an 
unpardonable sin, they universally replied that our cup of 
iniquity was not yet full, and that a heavy punishment was 
in store for us." " As the rationalists do not only disbelieve 
this, but think that we are now receiving our reward for 
our manly resistance to oppression, the king has, within a 
few years, felt a strong disgust for neologism, and no one, 
who publickly avows these sentiments, anticipates the sunny 
favours of royalty." 

Here then we have candidly stated, the secret spring of 
the alteration in question. The high toned loyalty of the 
orthodox, with their ultra doctrine of passive obedience, has 
won for them the monarch's smi'e, and the magick power 
of that smile Jias alone multiplied their ranks. The in- 
crease is for the most part nominal, and infinitely worse 
than nominal. Listen to the opinion formed upon the spot 
by your own eyewitness, and the facts upon which it is 
based. " The effect of this patronage on true religion will 
be most unfortunate. Very many, who are neologists at 
heart, will be supernaturalists only in profession. All 
those who turn from interest, however orthodox they may 
be in their lecture rooms, will be unable always complete- 
ly to invest themselves with this false garb. The cloven 
foot will sometimes appear. This effect has already be- 
come visible to both parties. The neologists say, that 
there is very little more real orthodoxy at the present 
time than ten years since. The orthodox themselves uni- 
versally admit, that of those who profess and teach these 
sentiments, only a small proportion are so in truth. By 



SERMON XVI. 



203 



this I intend, that they do not believe in that thorough 
change of character, which is inculcated by Christ in his 
conversation with Nicodemus, although they teach it to 
their students. The doctrine of regeneration is regarded 
by many of them very much in the same light as a politi- 
cal or mathematical truth, and as possessing little, if any 
more, moral influence. Such an exotick faith cannot flour- 
ish in the cold soil ot hypocrisy." 

Accessions like these cannot therefore really strengthen 
the adherents of the supernatural doctrine. They rather 
serve to create suspicion and attract contempt. The better 
share in the opprobrium, deservedly cast upon the worse. 
Distinctions cannot easily be made, and in process of time 
sinister motives will be imputed to all. Especially, when it 
is considered, that even the orthodoxy, of which this writer 
speaks, is itself a meager skeleton of what it ought to be, a 
miserably lame apology for the entire faith once delivered to 
the saints. According to him ; " The doctrine of the eter- 
nity of future punishment is almost universally rejected. 
I have seen but one person in Germany who believed it, 
and but one other whose mind was wavering on this sub- 
ject Many of them acknowledge, that the new testament 
seems to inculcate this doctrine ; but they find it, as they 
say, so irreconcilable with our ideas of the infinitely be- 
nevolent being, whom God has revealed himself to be, 
that, if they believe in his perfections, they must reject the 
doctrine. Some contend that it is not even apparently an- 
nounced." " Others affirm, as one of the orthodox pro- 
fessors, who is considered to be eminent for his piety, told 
me respecting himself, that this doctrine evidently appears in 
the new testament, but that his heart could not receive it, 
unless he were to change his views of the character of God." 

Numbers among you must consequently agree with me, 
that these persons have no rightful claim whatever to the 
appellation given them. Not only do they renounce one 
of the cardinal doctrines of the bible, producing that " fear 
of the Lord, w r hich is the beginning of wisdom," but more 
consistent than yourselves, they think no more of the di- 
vinely instituted Lord's day, than you do, of the divinely 
instituted ministry. " The belief in the sabbath, as an in- 
stitution binding upon us, in the sense in which it is gen- 
erally viewed in the United States, is universally rejected. 



204 



SERMON XVI, 



In my conversations with very many on this subject, I 
have never seen nor heard of one, who did not regard it 
as a Mosaick institution merely." 

Thus then, brethren, I have exhibited to you, from the 
testimony of persons, whose credibility ye cannot question, 
the melancholy condition of the presbyterian churches in 
that part of the continent of Europe, whose population 
amounts to near a hundred millions of souls. A more 
shocking spectacle, it would be difficult to imagine. It is 
enough to cause the eyes to swim with tears, the heart to 
bleed at every pore. What pious man can look upon it, 
and continue to cherish the slightest feeling of affection for 
an ecclesiastical regimen, so utterly inadequate to subserve 
the interests of evangelical religion, and transmit it pure 
and uncontaminated to remotest generations ? Through- 
out a professedly christian region, infidelity reigns with al- 
most unlimited sway. And the prospect of a speedy 
change refuses to dawn upon the vision. The little ortho- 
doxy that is left is so mingled with and neutralized by the 
most flagrant heterodoxy, as to forbid all reasonable expect- 
ations of its exerting a salutary influence, in the never 
more needed work of moral and religious reformation. 

Even in England, where the sound doctrines of the es- 
tablished church have had no slight tendency, in retarding 
the growth of heresy, in the surrounding sects, even in 
England, dreadful has been the desolation pervading the 
presbyterian fold. In the history of dissenters, by Bogue 
and Bennett, two of your own authors, there is a sad ac- 
count of the dilapidated state of the fabrick, in the reign of 
the third George to the year eighteen hundred and eight. 
Their testimony is full and explicit, and is presented in 
these terms ; " Many, who drank the cup of Arianism 
first, and then of Socinianism to the very dregs, ceased to 
be members of the dissenting congregation ; and with a 
perfect hatred of the doctrines of the church of England, 
pusillanimously and disingenuously bore a part in her very 
explicit trinitarian worship. By the operation of these 
causes many a presbyterian congregation dwindled from a 
giant into a dwarf. Aged people, who remember their re- 
spectable condition in the metropolis, at the commence- 
ment of this period, must be convinced, that heresy has 
acted like an enchantress in silently, by her fatal spells, ac- 



SERMON XVI. 



205 



complishing their destruction. They are in general now 
but the shadow of what they formerly were, and many of 
them have ceased to exist. Devonshire, the cradle of Ari- 
anism has been the grave of the Arian dissenters ; and 
there is not left in that populous county, a twentieth part of 
the presbyterians which were to be found at her birth. 
More than twenty of their meeting houses, it is said, have 
been shut up, and in those which remain open, there are to 
be seen the skeletons only of congregations, which were 
full and flourishing before errour had banished prosperity." 

" In other counties of England, where these sentiments 
prevailed, the effects have been the same. Like the de- 
vouring pestilence, Arianism and Socinianism have, with 
few exceptions, carried desolation with them into every 
congregation, where they have obtained an entrance ; and 
some scores more of their meeting houses would have 
been shut up, but for the pious benevolence of persons of a 
different creed, in the former generation. By their endow- 
ments, many of the presbyterian ministers have been ena- 
bled to retain their office, and to preach to what deserves 
not the name of a congregation, but is better described by 
the prophet's account of what remains after the shaking of 
the olive tree ; two or three berries on the top of the up- 
permost bough, four or five on the outmost fruitful branches 
thereof. So great is the change which these sentiments 
have produced, that perhaps there are not now in England 
twelve of their congregations which can boast of an atten- 
dance of five hundred people ; whereas, before the intro- 
duction of Arianism, they could in more than two hundred 
places count five hundred hearers, and, in several, more than 
double that number. To account for the decrease, let it 
be remembered, that shoals of converts, if they deserve 
the name, or of people weary of dissent, passed over from 
the presbyterians, into the bosom of the established church." 

Devouring pestilence indeed ! Surely, brethren, the 
most inveterate enemies of episcopacy must, upon this 
survey, admit her transcendently higher claims and holier 
influence. They must be prepared to take up the lamen- 
tation of the prophet, " Oh that my head were waters, 
and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day 
and night for the slain of the daughter of my people ! Oh 
that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring 



206 



SERMON XVI. 



men, that I might leave my people and go from them, for 
they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men." 
If the preceding extracts should not be thought to warrant 
so decided an expression of humiliation and sorrow, all 
doubt must be removed, when ye learn the dreadful abyss 
of apostacy into which the greater part of your church 
has sunk. I allude to the statement in relation to the popu- 
lous town of Manchester, from the pen of the same doctor 
Sprague, who visited France and Geneva. " There is in 
the last Saturday's paper, published here, a curious extract 
of a sermon, preached on the preceding sabbath by one of 
the unitarian ministers of this town, vindicating an amal- 
gamation of unitarians and deists, and censuring as illiber- 
al those who exclude a man from their charity, because he 
happens to differ from them on so small a point as the 
divine authority of the bible. I am credibly informed that 
this fact is quite in unison with the character of most of 
their congregations, and that the question in respect to the 
divine authority of revelation is regarded by them as an 
unimportant matter." 

Wretched men ! To such a spiritual catastrophe have 
they been driven, by the fatal operation of the presbyte- 
rian innovation upon heavenly things. Wherever heresy 
takes deep and abiding root, wherever it displays a vig- 
orous trunk and thriving branches, there this manner of 
ministration has been in great request : there it has stolen 
away the hearts of the people from the legitimate hier- 
archy ; there it. is the grand bulwark raised by the adver- 
sary, in oppositi 1 to the wisdom which is from above. 
Did my limits p mit, Scotland and Ireland could be ex- 
hibited, partakii / largely of the like spirit, and verging 
rapidly to the r te species of infidelity. Long time has 
elapsed since synod of Ulster became its prey, to the 
loss of a mo it least, of its clergy and laity ; and, go 
where you \ the victims of schism are cutting down, 
one after aether, the straggling props of orthodoxy, and 
substituting in its room, the religion of philosophy and vain 
deceit. Throughout the three kingdoms, the whole house 
of dissent betrays the absence of a sure foundation. Like 
the kindred edifice of the continental school, it cannot 
withstand the shocks of deism. Its omens are portentous. 
Its utter desolation cannot be long delayed. The mere 



SERMON XVI, 



207 



temple of reason and the sanctuary of God are wider 
apart than is the northern from the southern pole. 

But it is time to cross the Atlantiek, and in this western 
hemisphere contemplate the progress of schism, its always 
downward bias, and the vortex in which it is finally in- 
gulfed. Among the most respectable of the numerous 
sects pervading our national domain, must be ranked that 
which, though no more presbyterian, in relation to the 
office of a presbyter than the congregationalist, baptist, 
universalist, or unitarian denomination, is nevertheless 
technically called presbyterian. Upon its early history in 
this country, I have no comment to make. Its standards 
have always been Calvinistick, to the full extent of the 
peculiarities of the French reformer. Other doctrines 
may however be found in them, which are truly scrip- 
tural ; which are in precise accordance with many to be 
found in the thirty-nine articles of religion. Are those 
standards adhered to, or are they not ? Years and years 
have flown away since Arminianism, under the more ac- 
ceptable title of moderate Calvinism, has divided the ranks 
of the clergy, and actually predominated with the laity. 
Time and again have I heard them resolutely contend for 
Calvinism, when every principle advanced was as purely 
the reverse, as if it had proceeded from the lips of James 
Arminius himself. 

And to this their moderate Calvinism, I have not a par- 
ticle of objection. Every word of it, including the doc- 
trine of an unlimited, in opposition to a limited, atonement, 
is legibly printed in every book of com on prayer. But 
are there no other deviations than t v s ; nothing upon 
which the charge of heresy can be far < ore successfully 
established ? Before me lies the celebiT I Act and Tes- 
timony of eighteen hundred thirty-four, . ng the signa- 
tures of sixty-seven ministers and elder the presbyte- 
rian church, now increased, as the publk ve been in- 
formed, to upwards of two thousand of tho -two classes. 
Representing themselves to be strongly attached to the 
established principles of the sect, it is their object to de- 
nounce the heresies, which have crept into its fold, and to 
make a powerful effort to regain the ascendency already 
lost. And such an act and testimony! L ought to be 
read by every dissenter in the land. It ought to force 



208 



SERMON XVI. 



open the eyes of the blindest, and carry conviction to the 
mind of the most bigoted advocates, of ministerial parity. 
Here is Germany in miniature. The fall length portrait 
will be finished long before the last of the present genera- 
tion shall sleep in dust. 

It commences with the astounding fact, that the general 
assembly itself has for years been the fountain of errour 
and corruption. You shall judge for yourselves. " To the 
ministers, elders, and private members of the presbyterian 
church in the United States. — Brethren beloved in the 
Lord ; In the solemn crisis, to which our church has ar- 
rived, we are constrained to appeal to you in relation to 
the alarming errours, which have hitherto been connived at, 
and now at length have been countenanced and sustained 
by the acts of the supreme judicatory of our church. Con- 
stituting, as we all do, a portion of yourselves, and deeply 
concerned, as every portion of the system must be in all 
that affects the body itself, we earnestly address ourselves 
to you, in the full belief that the dissolution of our church, 
or what is worse, its corruption in all that once distin- 
guished its peculiar testimony, can, under God, be pre- 
vented only by you. From the highest judicatory of our 
church, we have for several years in succession sought the 
redress of our grievances, and have not only sought it in 
vain, but with an aggravation of the evils of which we 
have complained." 

Here therefore we have incontestable evidence, that the 
poison of heresy has actually tainted and vitiated the foun- 
tain head of this celebrated sect. For several years con- 
nived at, thereby taking the usual course, it at length 
grows strong enough to be boldly countenanced and sus- 
tained. And what is the character given of the persons, 
through whose influence this state of things has been 
brought about ? If the two thousand are to be credited, 
a set of knaves and hypocrites have been long nurtured in 
their fold, occupying its pulpits after a sinister manner, 
and with double faced dexterity striving to lull suspicion 
on the one hand, while they were overturning principles 
upon the other. Of the truth of the charges, I am person- 
ally ignorant. This is the official shape they assume. 
" We testify against the unchristian subterfuge to which 
some have recourse, when they avow a general adherence 



SERMON XVI. 



209 



to oar standards as a system, while they deny doctrines 
essentia] to the system, or hold doctrines at complete vari- 
ance with the system. We testify against the reprehen- 
sible conduct of those in our communion, who hold, and 
preach, and publish Arminian and Pelagian heresies, 
professing at the same time to embrace our creed, and 
pretending that these errours do consist therewith. We 
testify against the conduct of those, who, while they pro- 
fess to approve and adopt our doctrine and order, do, 
nevertheless, speak and publish, in terms or by necessary 
implication, that which is derogatory to both, and which 
tends to bring both into disrepute." 

And has it come to this ? Is this the language, ad- 
dressed by two thousand presbyters to the brethren, who 
have supplanted them in the management of the sect ? A 
sorry spectacle does it present to the world. Mere moral 
men would disdain to be guilty of such shameless duplicity. 
Out upon them, if it be true. I am for transparency of 
conduct ; no art, no trickery, no prevarication. Hapless 
church ! to be so deceived, cajoled, betra} T ed ! Would to 
God, that ye had the moral and recuperative power of the 
apostolick bishop to seize the helm and guide an ill con- 
trived, ill officered ship, through the dangerous straits of 
schism and heresy, into the haven of gospel union and gos- 
pel faith ! But ye will not. Though the Most High 
frowns upon your inventions ; though it is every day more 
and more manifest, that your once tall and gallant bark is 
perfectly dismasted and shattered from stem to stern, yet 
do ye lash yourselves to the wreck and refuse to abandon 
it, when the life boat is on your quarter, with a vigorous, 
healthy crew to convey you in safety, where your wounds 
shall be healed by Gilead's balm, and your drooping spirits 
refreshed by Bethesda's wave. 

Among the many heresies charged upon the new-lights, 
I find the following, so manifestly at war with the scrip- 
tures, that I do not wonder your spirits are stirred within 
you, and that ye find it necessary to cast off all disguise, in 
your conflict with such heresiarchs. Unless ye are greatly 
mistaken, they teach, " that we have no more to do with 
the first sin of Adam than with the sins of any other 
parent ;" " that there is no such thing as original sin ; that 
infants come into the world as perfectly free from corrup- 

18 



210 SERMON XVI. 

tion of nature as Adam was, when he was created ; that 
by original sin nothing more is meant than the fact that all 
the posterity of Adam, though born entirely free from 
moral defilement, will always begin to sin when they begin 
to exercise moral agency, and that this fact is some how 
connected with the fall of Adam ;" ■ " that the impenitent 
sinner is by nature and independently of the aid of the 
Holy Spirit in full possession of all the powers necessary 
to a compliance with the commands of God, and that if he 
laboured under any kind of inability, natural or mora], 
which he could not remove himself, he would be excusa- 
ble for not complying with God's will " that man's re- 
generation is his own act ; that it consists merely in the 
change of our governing purpose, which change we must 
ourselves produce and " that Christ's sufferings were 
not truly and properly vicarious/' 

Verily, brethren, I say unto you, these are large strides 
on the broad road to unitarianism, and unitarian] sm they 
will assuredly reach, when a single step will enable them 
to mount the ramparts of deism. No wonder that such 
erroneous faith should be thus characterized; "Which 
doctrines and statements are dangerous and heretical, con- 
trary to the gospel of God, and inconsistent with our con- 
fession of faith." No wonder that these gloomy appre- 
hensions are entertained ; " We are painfully alive also to 
the conviction, that unless a speedy remedy be applied to 
the abuses which have called forth this act and testimony, 
our theological seminaries will soon be converted into nur- 
series to foster the noxious errours which are already so 
widely prevalent, and our church funds will be perverted 
from the design for which thev were originally contri- 
buted." 

In my previous volume, it was said ; " If we may safely 
judge of the future from the past, wherever they erect an 
orthodox, posterity will behold a heterodox, church. Wher- 
ever they found an evangelical, there will rise upon its 
ruins a non-evangelical, school." But little did I dream, 
that before six years had expired, it would be so wofully 
anticipated in these forebodings of the presbyterian sect. 
Of its ultimate fulfilment, if ye will adhere to the schis- 
matick ranks, there is not with me the shadow of a doubt. 
From the following description it would seem as if your 



SERMON XVI. 



211 



doom was irrevocably permed under your own hand. 
" Oar people are no longer as one body of christians ; 
many of our church sessions are agitated by the tumultu- 
ous spirit of party ; our presbyteries are convulsed by 
collisions growing out of heresies detailed above, and our 
synods are made theatres for the open display of humili- 
ating scenes of human passion and weakness. Mutual 
confidence is weakened ; respect for the supreme judica- 
tory of our church is impaired ; our hope, that the digni- 
fied and impartial course of justice would flow steadily 
onward, has expired ; and a large portion of the religious 
press is made subservient to errour." 

One additional extract I must be permitted to make from 
this document, because with the substitution, at the outset, 
of episcopal for presbyterian, it fully sustains the princi- 
ples for which I am now contending : " We believe that 
the form of government of the presbyterian church in the 
United States, is in all essential features, in full accordance 
with the re vealed will of God, and therefore whatever im- 
pairs its purity, or changes its essential character, is repug- 
nant to the will of our Master. In what light then shall 
we be considered, if professing to revere this system, we 
calmly behold its destruction, or connive at the conduct of 
those engaged in tearing up its deep foundations ? Some 
of us have long dreaded the spirit of indifference to the 
peculiarities of our church order, which we supposed was 
gradually spreading amongst us. And the developments 
of later years have rendered it most certain, that as the 
perversion of our doctrinal formularies, and the ingrafting 
of new principles and practices upon our church constitu- 
tion, have gone hand in hand ; so the original purity of the 
one cannot be restored, without a strict and faithful adhe- 
rence to the other. Not only then for its own sake, do we 
love the constitution of our church, as a model of all free 
institutions, and as a clear and noble exhibition of the sound- 
est principles of civil and religious liberty ; not only do 
we venerate its peculiarities, because they exhibit the rules 
by which God intends the affairs of his church on earth 
to be conducted ; but we cling to its venerable ramparts, 
because they afford a . sure defence for those precious, 
though despised doctrines of grace, the pure transmission 



212 



SERMON XVI. 



of which has been entrusted as a sacred duty to the 
church." 

After what has already been detailed in relation to the 
presbyterian apostasies in France, Switzerland, England, 
Scotland, and Ireland ; after what this very document it- 
self avows, it is indeed wonderfully preposterous to hear 
of presbyterianism being " a sure defence" for " the doc- 
trines of grace," if by this be meant the doctrines of the 
gospel. But of the pure apostolick church, it is no doubt 
undeniably true, that whatever changes its essential char- 
acter is repugnant to the will of God, and that it furnishes 
the only safe channel for the perpetual transmission from 
age to age of the genuine faith of Christ, the word and 
sacraments, the precepts and doctrines which are accord- 
ing to godliness. 

Cordially do I concur in such positions, and, upon the 
strength of them, cordially do I invite you, brethren, to 
unite yourselves to a communion, thus highly honoured of 
the Most High, and upon whose unsullied standard of 
evangelical truth, it were vain to attempt the detection of 
a single spot. It would be the happiest movement ye 
could make. It would fully extricate you from the toils of 
schism. It would enable you and us to wield the sword 
of the Spirit far more effectually against the dangerous 
heresies, which prevail in your individual fold, and that 
can never be suppressed in the bosom of the sect, in which 
they are naturally generated. Come then without delay, 
and unite your forces to the more victorious army of the 
cross. So shall ye honour the true Bridegroom and his 
bride : So shall God release you from the snares, by which 
ye are beset, and graciously smile upon the return of the 
wandering sheep. To his blessing, I commend you, in 
whose church shall be ascribed all honour, glory, and 
praise to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three persons and 
one God, world without end. Amen. 



SERMON XVII. 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

FOR ZIOn's SAKE WILL I NOT HOLD MY PEACE, AND FOR 

Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETII. 

Another of the presbyterian churches, to which I must 
call your attention, in proof of the assertion, that the system 
inevitably leads to ail manner of false doctrine and un- 
scriptural practice, is that to which the epithet, congre- 
gational," very significantly applies. In old England, the 
title was " independent ;" and almost coeval with its exist- 
ence, we have this memorable account of its incipient 
operations, from no less a pen than that of Richard Bax- 
ter, whose praise among the dissenters is nearly or quite 
unrivalled : Speaking of the independents, he says, " 1 dis- 
liked also, the lamentable tendency of this their way to 
divisions and subdivisions, and the nourishing of heresies 
and sects. But above all I disliked, that most of them 
made the people, by majority of votes, to be church gov- 
ernours, in excommunications, absolutions, et cetera, which 
Christ hath made an act of office, and so they governed 
their governours and themselves." 

Clearly then did the discerning mind of Baxter, at this 
early period, detect the fatal consequences, flowing in the 
train of this new candidate for popular favour. Its very 
birth, as astrologers would say, was under an inauspicious 
star. It brought no revenue of praise to Christ, in the 
first christian land, it proposed to reform. And what were 
its effects upon the presbyterian churches in Holland, 
where it soon migrated with the view of striking its roots 
deeply, in a more kindred soil ? According to the testimo- 
18* 



214 SERMON XVII. 

ny of Thomas Hooker, one of the most distinguished of 
your clergy, the sojourn there could have added little or 
nothing to the interests of vital piety. Writing from Rot- 
terdam, in sixteen hundred thirty-two, he has the honesty 
to admit ; " The state of these provinces, to my weak eye. 
seems wonderfully ticklish and miserable. For the better 
part, heart religion, they content themselves with very 
forms, though much blemished ; but the power of godli- 
ness, for aught I can see or hear, they know not ; and if it 
were thoroughly pressed, I fear lest it will be fiercely 
opposed." 

Even in New England, as far back as sixteen hundred 
and fifty-seven, that is ? in thirty-seven years from the 
landing of the pilgrims, we have no very flattering account, 
of the influence of the congregational system among its 
own members, from Ezekiel Rogers, another of your 
clergv. His testimony of that date is ; " We grow world- 
ly every where. Methinks I see little godliness, but all in 
a hurry about the world ; every one for himself, little care 
of publick or common good." And thence to this clay, your 
system, instead of effecting all the good so fondly anticipa- 
ted, has gradually lowered the tone of moral and religious 
feeling, until all hopes of permanent amendment, under its 
auspices, are childish and visionary in the extreme. 

" In the independent way, I dislike many things," was 
the frank remark of Baxter, and its shrewdness will not be 
denied, when his first specification is; u They make too 
light of ordination." Yes, brethren, here is the grand ob- 
stacle to the progress of evangelism with you. Here is 
that breach in the walls of Zion, through which fatal here- 
sies have entered and acquired the mastery in your camp. 
As I shall, in its proper place, clearly prove, you began the 
system of lay ordination with the first settlement of the 
country. And though, in process of time, the ill policy 
was perceived and an attempt made to retrieve the worse 
than presbyterian innovation, yet to this making light of 
ordination, may be traced the sad predicament, in which 
ye are now involved. Hearken to the bitter lamentation 
of one of your divines uttered many years since ; I mean 
doctor Smalley of Connecticut. " In this country, the 
ministry was once accounted honourable. Religious pas- 
tors and teachers were some of the greatest men. But it 



SERMON XVII. 



215 



is far otherwise now. The dignity of the clergy has 
been long declining, and it is likely I apprehend to sink 
lower still. They yet retain the address of the reverend, 
but they are not very much revered, They may com- 
pliment one another, if they please, with the name of 
bishops ; but however much the vanity of any of them 
may be tickled with this name, if applied to every poor 
parson of every little parish, I am afraid it will be much 
like the title of king of the Jews, when given in mock- 
ery to Jesus of Nazareth, with his sceptre of a reed and 
his crown of thorns." 

Coming from such a source, the irony contained in the 
last sentence is indeed remarkable, and must have greatly 
contributed to the overthrow of the once favourite device 
of propping up a sinking cause, by bestowing the episcopal 
name on the " parson of every little parish." And then 
as to the low estimation to which the congregational 
ministry had fallen, brought about by speaking evil of dig- 
nities and contemning their valid ordination, no sighs or 
tears have been able to recover the ground so miserably 
lost. The hands of laymen were the immediate instru- 
ments of its degradation ; and those hands, in spite of ap- 
pearances, the sable garb and pastoral assumption, those 
hands still cleave to the order, and constitute its sole claim 
to ecclesiastical authority. 

But, not to forestall this subject, I have now to present 
you with a never to be forgotten illustration of the evil 
effects, attending spurious pretensions to the gospel minis- 
try. It relates to a transaction, concerning which episco- 
pacy has been grossly, if not wantonly, traduced ; and it is 
high time that the real delinquent should be thoroughly 
and effectually exposed. Among the episcopal churches 
in Boston, when the war of the revolution commenced, 
was the edifice now called the Stone chapel. Its congre- 
gation was principally composed of the civil and military 
officers of the colonial government, with other English 
families, who preferred their own to the dissenting wor- 
ship. But the revolution drove a large majority of them, 
with the pastor, to their native land. Their pews be- 
came the property of congregationalists ; and the pews 
carried with them the entire control of the church. Under 
these circumstances, a young graduate at Harvard, by the 



216 



SERMON XVII. 



name of Freeman, was employed to officiate in the capacity 
of a lay reader ; which station he occupied for some time, 
pursuing his theological studies as a candidate for holy 
orders. 

But holy orders he never obtained, an episcopal clergy- 
man he never was. Why ? For the best reason in the 
world, he was found to be unsound in the faith. Infected 
by the heresy, even at that period, known to be cherished 
by several of the congregational clergy, he denied the su- 
preme divinity of the only begotten of the great Jehovah. 
And what were the consequences ? It is understood, that 
he twice applied for orders to bishop Seabury, of Con- 
necticut, and, on account of this departure from the true 
faith, was necessarily rejected. But whether this be fact 
or fable, it is certain, that either finding it impracticable to 
obtain orders, or else scrupling to seek them, with his the- 
ological views, he followed the example long before in 
common use in the country ; he became a congregational 
minister, in the strict, legitimate meaning of the title ; he 
was publickly ordained by the imposition of the hands of 
two of his own lay parishioners. The few episcopalians 
left, strenuously opposed the procedure, but overruled 
and outvoted by the descendants of the pilgrims, they re- 
moved from the chapel and attached themselves to Trin- 
ity church, which had succeeded in retaining its original 
faith. 

Here, then, brethren, y e have a brief abstract of the man- 
ner in which the first unitarian society was avowedly organ- 
ized in New England. Owing to civil commotion and the 
successful intrigue of your own people, an episcopal edifice 
is perverted from the pious design of its founders, and a 
son of your own Harvard, by means of your own unscrip- 
tural ordination, inducted into the vacant rectory. Yes, 
this was your work ; a kind of metempsychosis brought 
about by your ecclesiastical anomaly, when upon epis- 
copal principles, if no other ordination than that of a bishop 
had been recognised as valid, sound doctrine would still 
have been heard within that venerable pile ; it would have 
been the subject of no such melancholy transmigration, as 
eveiy genuine churchman is compelled to deplore. 

And yet, it has been often published to the w T orld, and 
more often whispered in private, that the first American 



SERMON XVII. 



217 



congregation, which became unitarian, was the episcopal 
society of this identical Stone chapel. O shame ! where 
is thy mantling blush ? O spirit of dissent ! To what 
miserable shifts and evasions will not some of thy votaries 
resort ? But the honest will not be always deluded. On 
such a statement as this, ye, brethren, will almost univer- 
sally acknowledge, that we might as well taunt the papists 
with being the founders of protestantism in England, be- 
cause York minster, and the other Roman cathedrals fell 
into the possession, and were converted to the use, of the 
English established church. 

True it is, that the highly respectable society now oc- 
cupying the chapel, have so altered the book of common 
prayer, expunging one part and mutilating another, that, 
with some additions, it has been conformed to their pecu- 
liarities, and adopted as their formulary of publick worship. 
But this does not make them episcopalians. If the most 
orthodox of your societies, one and all, were to give up 
extemporary prayer and embrace the liturgy of the prayer 
book, precisely as it is, word for word, it would not make 
them episcopalians. Nay, if w T e w r ere to abandon our. own, 
which God forbid, and resort to your, mode of divine wor- 
ship, it would not make us the less episcopalians than we 
now are, since this is a title which has reference to the 
ministry, and the ministry alone. They who are thus dis- 
tinguished, contend for the pre-eminence of a bishop over 
other ministers; that he alone has a right to confer holy 
orders ; and that the incumbents of their parishes must 
have had their ordination from his hands and by his au- 
thority. They who hold these truths are, and they who 
reject or renounce them are not, episcopalians. To the 
latter class ye belong ; and to your body is attached the 
present congregation of the Stone chapel. 

Having thus fairly vindicated the church from this 
stigma, and transferred it to the escutcheon to which it 
rightfully belongs, I hasten to contemplate the immediate 
and remote consequences. Craftily, if not surreptitiously, 
did unitarianism gain its first foot hold in New England. 
And where has it met with congenial souls ? By what 
people has it been greeted with the approving smile and 
the loud hosanna ? On what arena have its battles been 
fought and its conquests won? Thank God! In this 



218 



SERMON XVII. 



campaign, the church has occupied high and impregnable 
ground. The witching name and banner of philosophy 
have not lured her to her ruin. Invested with the whole 
armour of God, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield 
of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, 
she has nobly repulsed all assaults upon her integrity; she 
has foiled all the weapons of the adversary, and come off 
conqueror, and more than conqueror, where, whatever 
might have been the issue of defeat, to triumph is life eter- 
nal. Not a single episcopal church, though more than 
fifty years have now elapsed, has grounded its spiritual 
arms, or permitted so much as one hallowed citadel to be 
first stormed, and then garrisoned by an alien host. All 
glory be to God, for this signal manifestation of his pre- 
sence. He has taught our hands to war and our fingers 
to fight. He hath showed himself mighty in behalf of the 
bride of his anointed. The victory is his ; the guerdon 
ours. Again I repeat, " He that glorieth, let him glory in 
the Lord." 

But alas ! beloved brethren, what shall I, what can I, 
say in behalf of the ecclesiastical edifice your ancestors 
reared with pilgrim courage, and which it was fondly im- 
agined they had compacted together with divinest skill ? 
Melancholy indeed is the retrospect of the past ! The 
jubilee of my years is not yet arrived, and still, in the 
prime of my youth, I do remember that chapel, as the solita- 
ry asylum of the anti-trinitarian creed. How is it at the 
moment these lines are traced 1 " If you have tears, pre- 
pare to shed them now." In Massachusetts alone, near 
two hundred of your churches, with a proportionate number 
of the clergy, have deserted the ancient faith, and embraced 
the modern heresy ; and many a formidable lodgment has 
been made in the adjoining states. Pastors, venerable for 
their years, or gifted with shining talents, have led the way, 
and the people have literally thronged in their train. 
Where intellect has most abounded, trere defection has 
been the greatest. Ye may account for the fact as best 
ye may. But as a fact, it stands out too prominent to be 
successfully impeached. 

Harvard too, the pride of the pilgrims, founded on their 
faith and nourished with their continual prayer, Harvard 
has abandoned your ranks, and added the strength of her 



SERMON XVII. 



219 



learning, the brilliancy of her letters, to the opposite array. 
And Yale, are you by any means sure, that Yale is not in- 
clined in the same direction I To strike a bolder note, 
though it touch a more tender chord ; Is Andover safe ? 
Ay, brethren, these are serious questions, and though ye 
may spurn them now, it may be well to bear in mind, that 
within a few short years they would have been equally 
spurned, as either romantick or malignant, within the walls 
of Harvard, and in all the atmosphere with which she is 
surrounded. Nevertheless, the gold has become dim, the 
fine gold has changed. 

And what security have you, that in a no less brief space 
of time, there may not be new victims to the virus accom- 
panving your ecclesiastical economy ? I do not design to 
excite your ire. It is my policy to be mild though tirm, 
courteous though searching, magnanimous though faithful. 
But if such questions as I propose be really romantick or 
malignant, What mean those murmuring sounds of discord, 
which penetrate far and near, wherever the dogmas of 
Taylorism are heralded, as the true doctrines of the cross? 
Why is it, that the sympathies of Princeton have been long 
since estranged from the tenets of the Andoverian school i 
Why do the more orthodox of the presbyterians attribute 
the heresies, which have corrupted the very core of the 
sect, to the fatal influence of the young divines, sent out by 
the New England seminaries, and admitted into their com- 
munion ? Why, in these nurseries of your clergy, do the 
treasonable commentaries of the German scholiasts com- 
mand such unbounded admiration, as may well turn the 
heads of youth, and imperceptibly lead them to transfer 
their homage from verbal to doctrinal exegesis ? Why 
have the more rigid descendants of the puritans turned their 
backs upon both Andover and Yale, and selecting, at East 
Windsor, a site not far from mid-way, there created a new 
establishment, with the avowed object of inculcating a 
purer faith ? Let these interrogatories be answered can- 
didly and in the fear of God, and the gloomiest apprehen- 
sions, indulged by me, will be found strongly corroborated 
by your own movements ; I may as well say, they will 
be fully verified by them. 

In this connexion, it is, that ye may find abundant food 
for reflection, in an additional extract from the travels of 



220 



SERMON XVII. 



D wight. After describing the skepticism of the continent, 
he says, " If we would retain those invaluable blessings, 
which flow from the general belief in revelation which ex- 
ists in the United States, let us place our theological schools 
on such a foundation, that the students and professors shall 
possess every means of defending truth which this world 
affords. If our libraries are augmented thirty fold ; if the 
number of professorships be greatly increased, so that the 
greatest advantages may flow from an intellectual subdi- 
vision of labour ; if we are faithful to our master, who has 
left us the rich legacy of his precepts and example, we may 
advance to any conflict, with the surest prospect of success. 
If this is not done, there is reason to fear that neologism 
may hereafter prevail among us, as it now docs in Germa- 

n y-*'. 

Singular foreboding ! Cautious, guarded, problematical, 
if you please, at the period of its utterance, ten years ago. 
But what aspect does it now wear ? In what manner 
will ye now dispose of an augury, which appears rapidly 
approaching its fulfilment? I perceive no such wonder- 
ful improvement in your theological schools, such aug- 
mented libraries and professorships, as were here deemed 
essential to the maintenance of your threatened cause. 
And in point of orthodoxy, they do not command the tithe 
of the confidence once reposed in them. If there be more 
human erudition, alarming rumours indicate a sad declen- 
sion in regard to sound divinity. Even the presbyterian 
periodicals have for sometime freely branded the congre- 
gational system with an inevitable tendency to unitarian- 
ism. In one recently published, it is boldly proclaimed, 
" The presbyterian church has received a large accession 
of numbers from the congregational church, and in this 
latter church, which is built on the principle of spiritual 
mobocracy, such utter lawlessness of religious belief pre- 
vails, that when its members are induced from any con- 
sideration to place themselves under the obligations of a 
strict and specifick creed, they groan under the restraint, 
like a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke." And though, 
in your own publications, ye have justly retorted the 
charge ; though crimination has produced recrimination, 
until the controversy, in the shape of a two-edged sword, 
has been making unsparing havock on either side, yet does 



SERMON XVII. 



221 



not all this better your position. We, of the church, as im- 
partial spectators, can easily perceive that both are right 
and both wrong : Right in imputing unitarianism to be the 
result of each other's ecclesiastical regimen ; and wrong, 
because instead of respectively plucking out the beam 
from your own eyes, ye only sharpen your vision to be-* 
hold the more intently the mote which is in a brother's 
eye. 

But the true step for you to take still remains untrodden. 
They, who will not leap the confines of schism, must re- 
concile themselves, as they can, to have all their imaginary 
strong holds forced, one after another, by the subtle machi- 
nations of the here tick. Your fathers would have trem- 
bled with indignation, if the picture, ye now present, had 
been drawn by some gifted seer, in their high and palmy 
days. It would have been consigned to the hottest flames, 
as a vile calumny on their beauteous Harvard ; a foul as- 
persion of their religious creed ; an incredible scandal on 
the clerical generation, which was to succeed the worthies 
of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. But ere the 
close of the last, such a picture began to be realized. The 
canvass was stretched. The colours were ground. In 
one hand the artist an easel bore, and with the other pro- 
ceeded to ply his pencil. Already were the outlines boldly 
sketched and the figure visible. Nearly executed, might 
be seen the insolent glance of reason's eye, and more than 
half revealed, from the right, there issued the betraying 
hand. 

If ye believe not me. ye must denounce as falsehood 
the testimony of one of your own Andoverians, the late 
professor Porter. Having disposed of one branch of his 
subject, he thus continues ; " The other point respects the 
loud note of warning to christians of this time, from a well 
known apostasy, which occurred in the New England 
churches during the last century. By a gradual and silent 
progress, the spirit of vital godliness was supplanted in 
many of these churches. In pulpits, which had been occu- 
pied by the Mathers and Shepherds of former days, laxity 
of doctrine was introduced ; the glory of the gospel was 
obscured ; the real divinity of the Saviour, and the special 
agency of the Spirit were kept out of sight, then called in 
question, then denied ; till at length a regular organized 

19 



222 



SERMON XVII, 



apostasy from the faith of the gospel threw off all disguise, 
and boldly unfurled the standard of errour. This lament- 
able defection among the sons of the pilgrims, which many 
generations cannot remedy, did not result from accident. 
Whence did it come ? The answer deserves to be pro- 
claimed with trumpet tongue ; the puritan churches slept, 
and the enemy sowed tares. Unconverted men, in great 
numbers, were admitted to their fellowship, hoping to 
become christians. If I do not mistake the signs of the 
times, the danger of our churches now is, that unconvert- 
ed men, in great numbers, will be admitted to their fellow T - 
ship, hoping that they are christians. Should this appre- 
hension prove well grounded, another century will dis- 
close the calamitous results. God grant that it may prove 
without foundation." 

Here then we have explicit testimony to the gradual, 
the sly and insinuating manner, in which errour commenced 
its ravages in the congregational churches. It is in perfect 
keeping with the introduction into Germany, already ex- 
hibited. It does not war with the constitution and minis- 
try of the order. These are exactly adapted to its pur- 
poses. Unitarians are as stanch congregationalists as the 
" most straitest" of the sect. In this light, they are still 
recognised by both the civil law and ecclesiastical usage. 
And ye see to what a fearful depth of apostasy they have 
sunk. Nay, your own writer indulges the most gloomy 
prognosticks, as to the sounder parts of the diseased body. 
The new measures, so hastily embraced with the view of 
counteracting the growth of heresy, in his apprehension, 
only require time to furnish it with another colony of vic- 
tims, the progeny of " unconverted men," " hoping that 
they are christians." 

And if ye look at some of the features of these mea- 
sures, as described by him, it would indeed seem as if all 
the elements of a general apostasy were rapidly maturing 
among you. I can make nothing less of such operations 
and such impelling motives as these ; " The most decisive 
objection, that I have always felt to the camp meetings of 
our methodist brethren, is the indiscriminate manner in 
which men and women are announced as converts in the 
prayers and addresses of ministers. For all the universe, 
I would not be accountable for the false hopes, which I fear 



SERMON XVII. 



223 



are sometimes thus produced in a single day. And yet, 
from ample documents now before me, I am constrained to 
think that irregularities, under the name of revival measures, 
to some of which there is no room here to advert, have 
been carried to a most preposterous and presumptuous ex- 
treme, in many presbyterian and congregational churches. 
In too many cases, the aim has clearly been to produce ex- 
citement, not by clear exhibitions of truth, but by rousing the 
passions, through continued and violent appeals, that often 
amount to little better than vociferation." " There has of 
late been an evident tendency, in the course of revival 
measures, to reckon up and publish, as early as possible, the 
number of converts and of additions to the church. Pious 
and zealous miuisters mean by this to do honour to divine 
grace. But let them ask, if there is no mixture of religious 
ostentation in this numbering of the people, and ask also if 
there is no sectarian policy connected with it. Sixty hope- 
ful subjects of grace are reckoned among my people this 
week. If they are not admitted together into my church 
very soon, many of them will probably unite with the 
church of brother A, and others will go to different de- 
nominations. They must be secured therefore without 
delay." 

Strange disclosure ! What profanation of the sacred 
office is here ! What can be the benefit of such orthodoxy 
as this, when the judgment is set, when the books are 
opened, and every man will be judged according to those 
things which are written in the books ? Such conduct, it 
is to be seriously apprehended, can ill endure the sharp, 
piercing glances of the all-seeing eye. If it called out the 
severe animadversion of one of your own divines, it must 
kindle the hot displeasure of him, whose injunctions to be 
of the same mind and of the same body, are violated to no 
better purpose, than this rousing of the passions ; this anx- 
ious numbering of the people ; this manoeuvering to get 
the majority ; this indecent haste to bring things to a cri- 
sis, lest the harvest be reaped by some more shrewd and 
cunning hand. I do not wonder, that the venerable pro- 
fessor was sorrow stricken by such spiritual legerdemain. 
Admitting his account to be true, the prophecy, with which 
it is accompanied, will ere leng be too fatally verified. It 
is even greatly to be feared, that the second apostasy will 



224 



SERMON XVII. 



be worse than the first. I would as soon build a house 
within the crater of Etna, as place any confidence in the 
permanency and beneficial properties of a system, so dis- 
credited by the records of the past, so unable to vanquish 
the infant struggles of errour, so manifestly suspected and 
despaired of by an honest and inflexible friend. 

Nor must I fail to remind you, brethren, that others of 
your clergy have either intentionally or inadvertently 
dropped some intimations of a character too ominous to be 
sported with, as only calculated for the meridian of weak 
nerves and womanish fears. Doctor Hawes, the author 
of " a tribute to the memory of the pilgrims," is of the 
number, and the more to be credited, because this very 
work exhibits him as a stanch advocate of the congrega- 
tional platform, and at the same time by no means ignorant 
of the nearly total overthrow of protestantism upon the 
European continent. On this subject, he writes, " The 
reformed churches of Germany and Switzerland once had, 
and many of them now have, a correct creed — scriptural 
formularies of doctrine, to which all who ministered at the 
altar, or came to the communion, were obliged to give their 
assent. But most of those churches, with their ministers, 
have passed through all the various grades of Arianism, 
down to the lowest sort of Socinianism, and even deism, 
and yet retain the form of christian churches and the name 
of christian ministers." 

What then are his anticipations, in relation to a country 
reformed upon kindred principles, where his beloved Con- 
gregationalism has had almost unbounded sway ; and 
where, if really of divine origin, it should have eventuated 
in something better than the gelid theology, now fast 
verging to the confines of the free thinking of the old world ? 
The confessions cf such a man are worth recording, if for 
no other purpose than the exposure of the wonderful in- 
congruity existing between the promise and the perform- 
ance, between the subject of his encomium and the off- 
spring it has brought to light. The confessions are these ; 
" Times of trial are at hand. The minds of men are pow- 
erfully excited : The publick opinion is in a feverish state : 
There is extensively manifested an extreme restifness 
under the restraints of religion, a strong disposition to 
break the bands and cast away the cords of allegiance to 



SERMON XVII. 



225 



God. Multitudes in all classes of society are setting them- 
selves against the Lord and against his anointed. Infi- 
delity and heresy, in a thousand forms, are spread through 
the land ; and the signs are not dubious, that a crisis is 
approaching in the religious affairs of our country, which 
will severely try the hearts of men, and cause all to show, 
whether they are for or against the kingdom of Christ." 

Admirable comment upon the system, all along eulo- 
gized and bedizened with indomitable prowess ! If the 
writer's name were not prefixed, if he had not taken abun- 
dant precaution to prove himself a thorough-going if not a 
judicious partisan, the cry would be every where raised, 
" an enemy hath done this." But as it is, the knell of Con- 
gregationalism has been effectually rung by the hand of its 
inveterate friend. On the banks of the Avon, it was long 
since written with consummate tact and perfect insight of 
the way of schism ; 

" In religion, 
" What damned errour, but some sober brow 
" Will bless it, and approve it with a text, 
" Hiding the grossness with fair ornament ?" 

And here from an unquestionable source, the portrait is 
drawn of still more deplorable departures from the chris- 
tian faith. It is not merely in some obscure corner among 
the profligate and ignoble few, that our author discerns 
and denounces a partial rebellion against the Father of 
heaven and earth. But according to him, " Multitudes in 
all classes of society are setting themselves against the 
Lord and his anointed. Infidelity and heresy, in a thou- 
sand forms, are spread through the land." 

Mournful admission ! Are these, the men, within whose 
veins flows the blood of the pilgrims ? Is this the product of 
churches, which were to be constructed upon puritanical 
principles ; which were to eclipse all that English episcopacy 
could claim of martyred worth and evangelical piety ; which 
were to make this favoured land, in a religious point of view, 
the asylum of the weary and heavy laden, the joy and the 
praise of the whole earth ? Would to God, that it were oth- 
erwise ! Would to God, that the writer in question, with 
others of his compeers, were altogether mistaken in the 
spiritual statisticks they have collected ! But their eyes 
were not dim. Their intellects were not shattered. The 

19* 



226 



SERMON XVII. 



half has not been told of all, that, within the area of their 
dissenting fold, has nipt the blooming spring of youthful 
piety, and with untimely frost withered the promise of au- 
tumnal fruit. Schism is not only the unerring diagnostick 
of heresies, innumerable and audacious. It transcends all 
this. It cannot even repose upon the bed of deism. Its 
ultimity must be sought for in naked, bold, remorseless 
atheism. In the very heart of our pilgrim land, could be 
seen for years, that openly proclaimed temple of reason, 
whose diabolical motto was, " There is no God." 

Consider, therefore, brethren, I beseech you, ye who be- 
lieve in Jesus, who look to him only for salvation, who 
would gladly spend and be spent in promoting his most 
righteous cause, " Consider the work of God. For who 
can make that straight which he hath made crooked?" 
The inquiry is that of the royal preacher. The commen- 
tary is already before you. Have done with that which 
Baxter so disliked as the nursery of " heresies and sects." 
Come to the apostolicity, which Paul commends, and God 
hath given, " For the perfecting of the saints, for the work 
of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ : 
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the know- 
ledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the mea- 
sure of the stature of the fulness of Christ ; that we hence- 
forth be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried 
about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, 
and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive ; 
but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in 
all things, which is the head, even Christ. From whom 
the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that 
which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual 
working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of 
the body unto the edifying of itself in love." Amen. 



SERMON XVIII. 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

for zion's sake will i not hold my peace, and for 
Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETII. 

To the melancholy aberrations from the faith of the gos- 
pel, detailed in the three last discourses, it were easy to ap- 
pend instance after instance, until all the presbyterian sects 
should have passed in review before us. A large propor- 
tion of the baptists, in England, are open and decided uni- 
tarians. And in this country, particularly in the west, no 
denomination is so disfigured with the shreds and patches 
of innumerable divisions and subdivisions. Even in New- 
England, while unitarianism divides their ranks in relation 
to the character of Christ, a party has been for some time 
waxing stronger and stronger, whose object, under the aus- 
pices of one of their most aged pastors, is to annul the ob- 
ligation to remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. 

And loud is the cry for division, which has been ringing 
in the methodist connexion : The more remarkable, be- 
cause all the disaffected proclaim war at once with the 
episcopacy, such as it is, belonging to them. It is spuri- 
ous, so manifestly spurious, that the English methodists, 
who have no bishops, will not receive it, at the hands of 
their American brethren, preferring the employment of 
lay preachers, and the reception of the sacraments in the 
established church, to the countenancing of a figment, so 
flagrant as this transatlantick episcopacy. And yet, won- 
derful to relate, notwithstanding this invalidity, there has 
been incomparably less of heresy existing with the metho- 
dists, than with any other body of dissenters. More won- 



228 



SERMON X V 1 1 1 . 



derful still, the moment it appears, among them, that very 
moment a blow is aimed at their self made bishops, their 
authority is cast off, and the seceders assume in form, 
what their brethren have in fact, the presbyterian minis- 
try. They become independents, and thus eviuce to the 
world the existence of an antipathy, between episcopacy 
and heresy, so irreconcilable, so mortal, that the latter can 
by no means tolerate the presence of the former, though it 
be altogether nominal and supposititious. 

The universalists also are very generally infected w T ith 
the unitarian dogma, and numbers of those who deny the 
divinity of Christ return the compliment, by scouting the 
idea of future, especially eternal, punishment. As if to 
make assurance doubly sure, in relation to the evils of 
schism, those remarkably quiet and unobtrusive people the 
quakers, have not been able, with their lay presbyterian- 
ism, to resist the contagion of the Arian and Socinian here- 
sies. They have been utterly prostrated as well as their 
brother schismaticks. 

And what horrid impieties are those, which deform the 
worship, and desecrate the testimony of the shakers ? We 
accuse the Romanists of offering prayers and supplications 
to the virgin Mary, and much as we revere the memory 
of the chosen mother of Christ, justly are they rebuked for 
a practice, utterly at variance with the injunctions and 
spirit of the gospel. But here are protestants, more to be 
reprobated, in one of whose hymns, publick adoration is 
offered to the female impostor, who founded the sect. And 
this is the blasphemous doctrine, pertaining to her, which 
appears in their pretendedly new revelation ; "As certain 
as the carpenters son w^as the He, who set the example 
of righteousness for all men ; so certain the blacksmith's 
daughter was the she, who hath set the example of right- 
eousness for all women ; and in her proper order is the 
Lord our righteousness or God manifested in the flesh ac- 
cording to the promise of the latter day." 

But enough of this wretched infatuation, not more an- 
noying to me than disgusting to large numbers, whom I 
would fain extricate from the rocks and quicksands, which 
infest their course on every side. Though rationalism be 
confessedly bad, shakerism and mormonism are, if possible, 
worse. What can be the pretext for adhering to a system, 



SERMON XVIII. 



229 



productive of such monstrous conceptions as these ? What 
true friend of Jesus can forbear to revise long indulged 
opinions, received without examination, and based on the 
merest shadows, that he may be induced to strike the flag 
of undesigned rebellion, and wage the gospel combat be- 
neath the true banner of the cross ? My previous volume 
will show you, how freely the first continental reformers, 
with Luther, Melancthon, and Calvin at their head, how 
freely they admitted the divine claims of episcopacy ; how 
gladly they would have embraced it, if one single Roman 
bishop had relinquished the papal, and identified himself 
with the protestant, cause. And why is there so much re- 
luctance now ? Why hesitate to cross the banks of Jor- 
dan, when a wilderness of errour is to be left behind, and 
a land, flowing with spiritual milk and honey, promises an 
abundance of good things to the weary wanderer ? All 
of you know the effect of prejudice, oftentimes inveterate 
in proportion to the height of its absurdity ; and I now pro- 
pose to exhibit some memorable examples, in the after- 
thoughts, unknown to the original reformers, which, in pro- 
cess of time, were strangely pressed into the service and 
support of the presbyterian hypothesis. 

The object was to prove that ordination by presbyters, 
the second order of the ministry, is warranted by the word 
of God. Not that there is one single direction to that pur- 
port. Not that one single presbyter or body of presbyters 
is ever charged with the specifick duty of ordination. This 
would be too bold an assertion, even for modern ingenuity 
to hazard. All are obliged to confess, that the instructions 
to ordain are invariably addressed to officers of a higher 
grade than that of a presbyter. Paul enjoins it upon his 
two sons in the common faith, Timothy and Titus, both 
of whom, upon the testimony of the scriptures, we call 
apostles, and our brethren are forced to dignify with the 
title of evangelists. And such confession is absolutely 
tantamount to yielding the whole argument. For if the 
great apostle perceived the necessity of supplying these 
eminently distinguished servants of the Most High, with 
inspired and written authority to ordain elders, it is taxing 
our credulity too much to suppose that similar power was 
delegated to an inferiour order, without the slightest notice 
of it appearing upon the sacred page ; not even when he 



230 



SERMON XVIII. 



particularly charged the elders of Ephesus, and summed 
up the actual duties of their office. 

But necessity knows no law, and something or other 
must be extracted from the divine records, to afford a 
colourable apology for not abandoning the new and re- 
pairing to the old paths. Explicit directions are not to 
be found. Trial must be made of particular instances. 
Cases must be appealed to, where presbyters exercised 
the power of ordination, and from this exercise, their offi- 
cial right could be easily and logically inferred. And free 
am I to say, that more daring liberties with holy oracles 
were never taken, than those which characterize the ap- 
peal in question. Ye shall decide for yourselves, and con- 
fidently is it believed, that many of you will do no less 
than decide aright. 

In the thirteenth chapter of the Acts, it is written, 
" Now there were in the church that was at Antioch 
certain prophets and teachers ; as Barnabas and Simeon, 
that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, 
which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and 
Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the 
Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the 
work whereunto I have called them. And when they 
had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they 
sent them away." And this some of our opponents have 
the temerity to call a presbyterian ordination. What an 
insult upon the understanding of the reader ! To what 
shifts will not polemicks occasionally resort, for the pur- 
pose of sustaining a debated theorem? Here are five 
persons, all denominated " prophets and teachers," and if 
three of them actually ordained the other two, Barnabas 
and Paul, the question immediately suggests itself; To 
what office were they ordained ? Our brethren are pre- 
cluded from saying to that of a presbyter, for according to 
their assumption, the whole five were of this grade before, 
and could not otherwise be represented as affording an 
instance of presbyters proceeding to ordain. The conse- 
quence is, that, to make out their case, they are driven to 
the necessity of contending, that three presbyters elevated 
two other presbyters to the apostolick dignity. Matchless 
effrontery ! For seventeen years before this transaction, 
one of' them, by his own statement, in the epistle to the 



SERMON XVIII. 



231 



Galatians, had preached the gospel of Christ, as one of his 
inspired apostles. In the first verse of this very epistle, 
he thus describes himself ; " Paul, an apostle, not of men, 
neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, 
who raised him from the dead." But here are certain 
sticklers for a novelty, scarce three centuries old, who, to 
uphold it, do not scruple to put forth an assertion, which 
not only subtracts seventeen years from the apostolick 
ministry of Paul, but, even at this late period, seeks to rob 
him of the honour of being called an apostle " by Jesus 
Christ and God the Father" in order to show his indebt- 
edness for the distinction to three imaginary presbyters. 

Matchless effrontery, I repeat ! Out of these meager 
materials, this special appointment of Paul and Barnabas 
to a temporary field of labour, which was accompanied 
by the laying on of hands, a ceremony employed upon 
many occasions besides that of ordination to the ministry ; 
out of these meager materials, or rather these totally di- 
verse materials, we are presented with a specimen of 
presbyterian ordination ; in other words, with the modern 
spectacle of a body of self-styled presbyters, inducting into 
the same office a young candidate from some theological 
seminary. Brethren, the fallacy is too gross, the veil con- 
cealing it is too thin, to deceive those who do not wish to 
be deceived. It must convince all others, that a cause, 
requiring such aids and appliances, is ultimately destined 
to suffer a nonsuit, in the judgment of all the wise and 
good. 

Indiscriminate censure I cannot, however, permit my- 
self to indulge. Your own Doddridge was far too candid 
and conscientious to give currency to such perversion of 
the scriptures. Upon the original passage, his comment 
is this ; " If there be any reference to a past fact in these 
words, it is probable to some revelation made to Paul and 
Barnabas, to signify that they should take a journey into 
several countries of Asia Minor, to preach the gospel 
there. But that they were now invested with the apos- 
tolick office, by these inferiour ministers, is a thing neither 
credible in itself, nor consistent with what Paul himself 
says, Galatians, first, first. And that they now received 
a power, before unknown in the church, of preaching to 
the idolatrous gentiles is inconsistent with Acts, fifteenth, 



232 



SERMON XVIII. 



twentieth and twenty-first ; and upon many other consid- 
erations, to be proposed elsewhere, appears to me abso- 
lutely incredible." 

The next, or fourteenth chapter of the Acts, supplies our 
presbyterian brethren with another case, sadly tortured by 
them into an ordination after their own minds. Speaking 
of Paul and Barnabas, the sacred historian informs us ; 
" And when they had ordained them elders in every 
church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended 
them to the Lord, on whom they believed." Surely a 
more desperate attempt was never made to sustain a des- 
perate cause. From what occurs in the preceding chapter, 
an effort is made by our opponents to prove that the pres- 
byters, Paul and Barnabas, were ordained to the higher 
office of apostles. But forgetting all this, in the extremity 
of their zeal, they come to this subsequent act of ordina- 
tion, and in the very face of the prior argument pronounce 
it presbyterian. By the waving of their magick wand, the 
two apostles become presbyters again, and, as presbyters, 
" ordain them elders in every church." If a parallel to 
this can be found in the whole annals of special pleading, 
it is unknown to me. 

True it is, that losing sight of the case at Antioch, a 
distinction is attempted to be made between Paul and Bar- 
nabas, to the effect, that though Paul was an apostle, Bar- 
nabas was not. But to what office then was the latter 
elevated, at Antioch, from his inferiour station of a prophet 
or teacher ? Difficulties, ye perceive, multiply upon diffi- 
culties ; contradictions upon contradictions. Impartial 
men must clearly discern, that if this alleged elevation did 
take place, it included both of these distinguished servants 
of Christ ; so that if one became an apostle, the other 
shared the dignity ; if one is afterwards metamorphosed 
into a presbyter, the same transformation must befal the 
other. Were we even to drop the Antioch case en- 
tirely, with all the argument they build upon it, and per- 
mit this new instance to stand by itself, what possible pro- 
priety can there be in calling that an ordination, by pres- 
byters, where Paul, one of the ordainers, is admitted to 
have been an apostle ? Nothing could be more disingen- 
uous ; in no more palpable manner could the scriptures be 
wrested from their legitimate meaning. If this were true, 



SERMON XVIII. 233 

the laying on of Paul's hands was superfluous, more than 
superfluous, it was a mere nullity. All virtue or effi- 
cacy must have proceeded from those of the supposed 
presbyter, Barnabas. On no other construction, can it be 
adduced as an example of such presbyterian ordination as 
we find practised by the moderns. 

What then will ye say, brethren, what apology will ye 
make, for the presentment of a case so perfectly irrelevant 
and misapplied, when, in addition to all this, ye have only 
to lift up your eyes nine verses above the record of this 
ordination of elders in every church, in order to be divinely 
apprized, that both the ordainers were apostles of our Lord 
Jesus Christ ? The priest of Jupiter would have done 
sacrifice to them, with the people, " Which, when the 
apostles, Paul and Barnabas heard of, they rent their 
clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out and say- 
ing, Sirs, why do ye these things?" Ay, what apology 
can ye construct for such glaring misrepresentation ? If 
it should not thoroughly disabuse your own minds, and 
convince you of the preposterous character of the presby- 
terian claim, obliged as it is, to rely on assumptions like 
this, what apology will ye construct for yourselves ? I 
can conceive of none ; and if ye are more adroit in such 
casuistry, my only counsel is, that ye take good care to 
frame one, which shall not only satisfy your own con- 
sciences, but be calculated to bear you out triumphantly, 
in the last and great assize. 

There is, however, another instance of presbyterian 
ordination insisted upon, as fairly deducible from these 
words of Paul to Timothy : " Neglect not the gift that is 
in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the lay- 
ing on of the hands of the presbytery." The distinction 
between the prepositions, by and with, has been already 
adverted to by me, in the volume to which this is supple- 
mentary, and never can be successfully gainsayed, long as 
the collateral passage, " Stir up the gift of God, which is 
in thee by the putting on of my hands," is permitted to 
retain its place in the bible. The merest school boy may 
easily comprehend, that authority was only conferred " by 
the putting on of the hands " of Paul ; while simple assent 
is the utmost indicated by the other preposition, " with 
the laying on of the hands of the presbytery." Calvin and 

20 



234 



SERMON XV III. 



Grotius gave up the'text upon another ground, maintain- 
ing that the word, translated presbytery, only meant the 
office of a presbyter, to which Timothy was ordained. 
Others, on the authority of the Greek fathers, have con- 
tended of the same word, that it was to be interpreted, as 
signifying the eldership of the apostles and not of the pres- 
byters. And no matter which opinion be followed, either 
is fatal to the presbyterian doctrine. 

By the usual explanation, I am however perfectly willing 
to abide. It is in strict accordance with the practice of 
the church for many centuries. Ordination with us to the 
office of a presbyter is always celebrated by a bishop, 
with the concurrence of two or more presbyters. And 
happy am I in being able to supply you with an authority, 
in relation to the whole subject, given under circumstances, 
too remarkable to be omitted. The lay ordination, practi- 
sed by the pilgrims in New England, appears to have 
greatly scandalized the puritan clergy, remaining in the 
old country. And what think you was the answer to their 
remonstrance against this innovation ? I must give it you 
in the precise words of your far famed historian, Cotton 
Mather. " Whereas it was objected unto our New Eng- 
land divines, by such writers as the sweet spirited Herle 
and warm spirited Rutherford, that the new testament 
affords no example of imposition of hands by the people ; 
it was answered, that the new testament instances not the 
imposition of hands on ordinary pastors, by any ordinary 
pastors at all. In all the examples, there, concerning this 
matter, either the persons by whom, or the persons on 
whom, hands were imposed, were extraordinary officers. 
And thus the objectors will find as much dissonancy from 
the scriptural example in their own practice as they could 
in ours." Here then, when Greek meets Greek, when the 
judgment is not biassed by the anxiety to overthrow 
episcopacy and its advocates ; here the whole presbyterian 
scheme is pronounced to be as destitute of authority as 
lay ordination itself ; here it is honestly and candidly admit- 
ted, " that the new testament instances not the imposition 
of hands on ordinary pastors by any ordinary pastors at 
all ;" here, as with us, the whole power and its exercise 
are ascribed to " extraordinary officers," that is, to the 
apostles. 



SERMON XVIII. 



235 



Nor is this all. Reference seems to have been made to 
the very passage, in the first epistle to Timothy, we are 
now discussing. And how remarkably clear the opticks of 
our New England divines were, at that remote period, 
the same historian shall be allowed to decide. " It was 
the learned Calderwood, who taught them to distinguish 
between what was received by (Sia,) and what was re- 
ceived only with (ixsra) the laying on of the hands of the 
presbytery. The former notes a causal virtue in the rite, 
which accordingly is not affirmed in the text. The latter 
notes only the concurring and approving of them that used 
the rite ; and accordingly our good men were desirous to 
have the consent of a neighbouring presbytery unto their 
elections, testified in their ordinations, where it could be 
comfortably procured." 

So true it is therefore, brethren, that, in two important 
particulars, these celebrated men entertained precisely the 
same opinions with the existing writers and standards of 
the episcopal church. The divine right of presbyters to 
ordain they utterly abjured, putting their veto upon the 
principal text, adduced in its favour. The only scriptural 
example of ordination, according to them, was the ordina- 
tion by apostles and probably those, sometimes called 
evangelists : At all events, they meant what we mean, the 
original twelve, excluding Judas and adding Matthias ; 
Paul and Barnabas ; Timothy and Titus. A prouder tes- 
timony to the truth of the episcopal hierarchy should not 
be exacted by the descendants of these venerable men ; 
especially as it was not designed, especially as it is plain 
enough to perceive, that by extraordinary officers they in- 
tended those whose functions ceased with the apostolick 
age. But when we prove to you, brethren, that the apos- 
tles were not extraordinary officers in such a sense, and 
that bishops are their legitimate successors in office, proud 
indeed is the testimony, which excludes both lay and pres- 
byterian ordination from all recognition in the word of 
God, and compels you either to adopt our views or suffer 
yourselves to be driven to the denial of all valid ordination 
whatever. Earnestly do I commend it to your serious re- 
flection, and heartily do I pray, that it may exert a valuable 
influence in promoting the union of all true christians, in 



236 



SERMON XVIII. 



the one universal fold of the great Shepherd and Bishop 
of souls. 

And thus I dispose of all the cases oi presbyterian or- 
dination, which the boldest of its supporters have ventured 
to produce from the sacred page. A more impotent and 
pitiful array is seldom seen. No jury, under the solemn 
sanction of an oath, would hesitate a single moment to 
bring in a verdict against them. Were ye to adopt the 
advice of Bildad to Job ; " Inquire, I pray thee, of the 
former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their 
fathers ; for we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, 
because our days upon earth are a shadow. Shall not they 
teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their 
heart ?" Were ye to adopt this advice, and ransack the 
records of ecclesiastical history from the very beginning 
of Christianity, for no less a period than fifteen or sixteen 
hundred years, so far as modern presbyterianism is con- 
cerned, these three crudely imagined proofs appear to have 
literally slept the sleep of death. Not one rude hand 
essayed to rouse them from their dread repose. Even the 
innovation itself existed for years, before they were dragged 
into notice, and in defiance of all antiquity required to 
figure in its train. The early continental reformers would 
have blushed to avail themselves of such intractable author- 
ities. They saw as clearly as the New England divines, 
that none but " extraordinary officers" were represented in 
the scriptures, as entitled to ordain. 

In this connexion, I must therefore advert to an errour, 
which more effectually than any other protracts the reign 
of schism. Thousands upon thousands are its victims. 
And no wonder that they are. It has been propagated by 
a man, the integrity of whose character is above all suspi- 
cion. But certainly, he should not have plunged into a 
controversial argument without making himself acquainted 
with the principles, upon which it had been previously con- 
ducted ; he should not have been deplorably ignorant of 
far the most important feature, episcopalians have been 
solicitous to exhibit. And yet, such was the fact with the 
late president Dwight. It is in vain to deny it. The 
words are too plain and explicit. They are these ; " The 
office of apostles is acknowledged on all hands, long since 
to have terminated." 



SERMON XVIII. 



23? 



Wonderful discovery indeed ! How admirably qualified 
was the unconscious author of a blunder so glaring and 
egregious, how admirably qualified was he to discuss this 
branch of his celebrated system of theology ! Why, 
brethren, in this unceremonious manner is dismissed the 
very hinge, on which turns the whole controversy between 
the dissenters and the church. If such an acknowledgment 
did actually exist, the sheet anchor of episcopacy would be 
irretrievably lost, and the ship itself dashed into innumera- 
ble fragments. It is the merest chimera imaginable. It is 
not even attempted to be proved. It is a naked assertion, 
occupying no more space in his volume than in mine. And 
such an assertion ! If the writer had taken the trouble to 
inspect the library of his own college, he would have stood 
corrected in numerous imported volumes. Among the 
published works of the graduates of Yale, he might have 
learnt from good old doctor Learning, rector of the neigh- 
bouring church at Stratford, enough to have given another 
shape to his argument. I allude to this passage ; " By the 
word bishop, I mean an officer in the church, superiour to a 
presbyter, and that he is of the same office, which the 
apostles sustained." Even professor Miller could have 
furnished him with his elaborate effort to refute the episco- 
pal doctrine ; " that the apostles, while they lived, held a 
station in the church superiour to all other ministers ; that 
bishops are the proper successors of the apostles ; and that 
they hold a corresponding superiority of character and 
office." 

But no, the venerable president rushes blindfold into this 
theological conflict ; and having thus undesignedly avoided 
the most formidable battery of his antagonists, he proceeds 
to storm and capture a redoubt, neither fortified nor man- 
ned by them ; on whose glacis, they would not float an en- 
sign ; in whose defence, they would not squander a shot. 
In other words, the president proves, and that too in the 
most convincing manner, with all conceivable complacen- 
cy, and as if he had grappled with and overcome the very 
Hercules of the contest, he proves, that the titles of bish- 
op and presbyter are used indiscriminately in the scrip- 
tures to designate one and the same office. What a vic- 
tory ! The renowned antiquary, Selden, who was a mem- 
ber of the Westminster assembly of divines, could have 
20* 



233 



SERMON X V 1 1 1 . 



told him ; " The words bishop and presbyter are promis- 
cuously used, that is confessed by all." And Grotius ; 
" They waste their own and other people's time, who. 
when they undertake to treat this question, laboriously 
prove, that the name of bishop was common to all pas- 
tors, when the meaning of that word is very plain. Nei- 
ther do they beat the air less, who make a great effort to 
prove that certain things are altogether common to all 
presbyters, namely, the right of preaching, of administer- 
ing the sacrament, and if any tiling belongs to these For 
superiority is not sought for in those things in which they 
agree, but in that which distinguishes them." 

Thus clearly then, brethren, do I show you that the 
worthy president, however enlightened upon other subjects, 
was surprisingly deficient in his knowledge of the mere el- 
ements of the episcopal question. Contrary to what he 
imagined, our main position is, that the apostle of the 
scriptures and the bishop of our times fill the same office, 
and this position he leaves untouched, because unknown. 
Utterly mistaking our views, he then battles with a phan- 
tom. The episcopalian cannot be found w T ho denies the 
interchangeable employment of the titles, bishop and pres- 
byter, in the new testament. As Selden says, " that is con- 
fessed by all." Your own eyes may see, that in my for- 
mer publication, all the misunderstanding growing out of 
the community of names, their use and disuse, is investi- 
gated at large, and to that are ye remitted for further in- 
formation. To me, it is a matter of no moment what our 
chief ecclesiastick is denominated, provided it be under- 
stood, that his strictly ministerial functions are the same, 
with those of Peter, James, and John ; Paul, Timothy, and 
Titus. Of that noble stream, rolling on golden sands and 
washing the walls of Troy, 

Which gods do Xanthus, men Scamander, call ; 

it may be easily perceived, that while the first is the smooth- 
er, the second the harsher, name, yet is the river one and 
indivisible. And precisely thus with our chief ecclesias- 
tick : By the God of the scriptures, he is honoured with the 
appellation of an apostle ; by men, with the less distinguish- 
ed name of bishop ; but after all the office is the same. 
So speaks antiquity with undivided voice. If ye will ex- 



SERMON XVIII. 



239 



amine the publication in question, ye will find it to have been 
early determined by the primitive christians, that the succes- 
sors of the apostles in the apostolick office should, out of 
reverence to their inspired predecessors, forbear to use the 
name of apostle and supply it with that of bishop ; to effect 
which, this last title was also to be dropped by the second 
order of the ministry, who were thenceforth restricted to 
that of presbyter or elder. 

The policy of the change may well be doubted. For 
although, the motive was good, the humility unimpeacha- 
ble, yet, in the revolution of time, it has so happened, that 
a veil of mystery is hereby artificially thrown upon the 
subject, which would never have existed, if the original 
name of apostle had been suffered to remain unaltered. It 
must not however be forgotten, that the change was far 
from violent or arbitrary. A bishop is literally an over- 
seer ; and this being the actual meaning of the Greek 
word, it was employed, as we often employ it, in cases of 
a general or a limited oversight. Christ was called by Pe- 
ter, the " bishop of souls," and is unquestionably the over- 
seer of universal man. The apostles were also bishops, 
or it could not have been said of Judas, " his bishoprick let 
another take ;" and they were so called, because of their 
being overseers of the whole visible church, including the 
inferiour orders of the ministry. Finally, the presbyters or 
elders were termed bishops, as we very freely admit, be- 
cause, as in the case of the elders of Ephesus, they were 
overseers of single congregations. In the scriptures, there- 
fore, it evidently appears, that the apostles were, from the 
first, no less properly bishops or overseers than the pres- 
byters. To designate both, as the divine word doth war- 
rant, we may rightly call the first, apostolick bishops ; 
the second, presbyter bishops. It solves the double diffi- 
culty. It accounts for the acknowledged indiscriminate 
use of the words bishop and presbyter. It shows that the 
successors of the apostles only dropped one of the names, 
to which they were entitled, when they preferred to be 
styled bishops, exclusively ; and that the presbyters must 
have followed their example, must have relinquished their 
previous episcopal appellation, with the laudable object of 
avoiding a confusion of names, when the two offices were 
as distinct and separate as at the beginning. 



240 



SERMON XVIII. 



In descending to these minute particulars, I may possi- 
bly, brethren, have wearied your patience. But ye are to 
recollect, that the reputation of D wight is high, deservedly 
high ; ye are to bear in mind, that if he made such gross 
mistakes, in his view of the question at issue between us, 
thousands and hundreds of thousands are doing the same, 
deceived perhaps through his instrumentality. And hence 
this brief exposure : this rapid glance at one of the princi- 
pal causes, which are operating to keep the people in pro- 
found ignorance of the real claims of the church. Against 
the fair fame of the president, I would not breathe a sylla- 
ble. Of his probity, as an author/ 1 have not a particle of 
doubt. But all this does not make his statements and rea- 
soning, the less at variance with facts so clear and incon- 
trovertible as to challenge the closest scrutiny. We must 
value truth more than we value men. When we bow to 
authority, let it be to the authority of God. His wisdom is 
alone divine. To him only ; to the Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost, three persons and one essential, underived Divinity, 
shall be ascribed all the glory, and honour, and dominion,, 
and praise, world without end. Amen. 



SERMON XIX, 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

for zion's sake will i not hold my peace, and for 
Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT EURNETH. 

All that I have said, in the latter part of the preceding 
discourse, exemplifies the folly, the exceeding folly v of 
making up what in legal parlance are termed false issues. 
President Dwight was indeed a congregational clergyman, 
who warmly espoused the cause of the sect. But surely 
it would be the worst of insanity to adduce him, as good 
authority in the episcopal controversy, when it is so obvi- 
ous that he entirely mistook its radical features, and pre- 
sented premises utterly unfounded or irrelevant. Under 
such circumstances, his judgment is completely nullified. 
No one can positively affirm, that he would not have been 
one of the most zealous advocates of episcopacy, if he had 
rightly understood the real question to be resolved ; if he 
had not, in common with nearly the whole body of dissent- 
ers, first formed his opinion, and then maintained its sound- 
ness, while the scales were upon his eyes and the very 
elements of the subject unknown. 

Nor let me fail to apprize you, brethren, that this is by 
no means the random conjecture ye may imagine. Admit 
the president to have been an extraordinary man, possess- 
ing a capacious intellect and wielding a vigorous pen. 
Yet will it not be pretended, that his scholarship surpassed 
that of a former president of Yale. If he was more 
elegant and rhetorical, the interrogatory would still remain 
unanswered, Was he more astute and recondite than 
Cutler ? I allude to the second president of the college, 



242 



SERMON XIX. 



who filled the office, in the beginning of the last century, 
and whose profound learning is still the theme of biographi- 
cal eulogy. 

But have ye never read or heard of the memorable 
cause, which produced the dissolution of his connexion 
with the seminary, over which he presided with distin- 
guished eclat ? He too was a congregational clergyman. 
Several of his collegiate associates were of the same order. 
What robbed this celebrated seat of science of their foster- 
ing care ? It was not the strength of episcopacy in Con- 
necticut. It was, at that epoch, more powerless than an 
infant in its nurse's lap. The infant attracts universal 
sympathy. Of the church, nothing could have been more 
applicable than the remark of the Jews to Paul, in relation 
to Christianity : " Concerning this sect, we know that every 
where it is spoken against." In the province, it was not 
represented by more than a single missionary, if even one 
could be found. It had no patronage, and it had no 
friends. 

What was it that first gave elasticity to its movements 
and a proud accession to its ranks 1 I will tell you, breth- 
ren, for poetry does not furnish a more beautiful episode, 
than this little narrative in the history of Zion ; nor can I 
conceive, that jury was ever impanelled, who gave to an 
odious cause a more patient and impartial scrutiny, or who, 
owing to the mere force of evidence, were compelled to 
decide in its favour, contrary to all their natural sympathies 
and acquired predilections, the reputation they enjoyed 
with men, and the eligible stations they occupied in life. 

The great and good bishop Berkely, to whom the poet 
justly ascribed "every virtue under heaven," out of the 
expansive benevolence of his mind and the love he bore to 
literature and science, had made a large donation to the 
library of Yale, of all the then recent English publications 
of standard value, in philosophy and theology. In the 
number was included the celebrated Bangorian controver- 
sy, in which the question of episcopacy was discussed with 
masterly skill and ability. To president Cutler and his 
friends, it was altogether new and startling. They pored 
over it separately and with avidity. Before communicating 
their thoughts to each other, the light of truth had so flash- 
ed, conviction on every individual, that the validity of their 



SERMON XIX. 



248 



ordination was not only seriously questioned, it was abso- 
lutely despaired of. Alarmed and disconcerted, they began 
to exchange opinions and confer together. The unity of 
the impression made surprised them yet more. Its conse- 
quences also were revolting. If the genuineness of their 
ordination could not be satisfactorily established, no longer 
could they in conscience act under its authority. The 
president and his tutors must forfeit their college appoint- 
ments ; a neighbouring clergyman, afterwards the erudite 
doctor Johnson, first president of Columbia college, New 
York, the pulpit and congregation to which he was tender- 
ly attached. 

The consequence was, that they determined to go over 
the whole ground, with renewed care and combined study, 
in hopes of finding some mode of extricating themselves 
from the unpleasant dilemma, into which they were 
thrown. But the more they studied, the more they despair- 
ed on the one hand, and were confirmed on the other. 
The result need not be delayed. In this providential man- 
ner, they were brought into contact with the truth. In an 
honest and conscientious spirit, they embarked in its inves- 
tigation ; and truth, almighty truth, they could not resist. 
Openly did they proclaim it, at the next annual commence- 
ment, in the presence of the trustees of the college. Easily 
did they vanquish the feeble arguments of governour 
Saltonstall and others, in the discussion which ensued. 
But nothing could avail. They had sinned, irreparably 
sinned, against the ruling powers. As was anticipated, 
resignation was forced upon them, and embraced in prefer- 
ence to what would have been sounded abroad and exulted 
in, as an ignominious expulsion. Three at least of these 
pure minded men cheerfully encountered the perils of the 
stormy deep, in their anxiety to obtain episcopal orders in 
England. There it was, that the destroying pestilence 
elevated the accomplished Brown, high on the roll of disin- 
terested martyrs to the good cause of Christ. But the 
president himself, with the excellent Johnson, were permit- 
ted to revisit their native land, clothed with legitimate au- 
thority to minister in holy things. And long did they 
labour in the sanctuary of the Lord, diffusing light and 
knowledge in every direction, until at length, in a good old 
age, no less full of honours than of years, esteemed by all, 



244 



S E R M ON XIX. 



and leaving a memory to be forever preserved fresh and 
green in the hearts of churchmen, they were gathered to 
the harvest of the saints of the Most High, " like as a shock 
of corn cometh in his season." 

Pause then, brethren, and reflect, that these worthies 
would have continued congregationalists to the day of their 
deaths, and have been cited as eminent instances of the 
excellency and superiority of that way, had no such man 
as Berkeley lived, and no such philanthropy as his supplied 
them with the long secluded treasures of the divine wis- 
dom. Ah yes ! then would ye have claimed them for 
your own, and no such transcendent triumph of the truth 
would have occurred, as that which has been destined to 
adorn this humble page. And what authority have you for 
saying, that a similar victory would not have been celebra- 
ted, provided your lamented Dwight had been permitted to 
catch the faintest glimpse of the true light, so long shining 
in the midst of the darkness, which comprehendeth it not ? 
None, absolutely none. " The office of apostles is ac- 
knowledged on all hands, long since to have terminated." 
This is his own published errour, and never can be recalled. 
He it was, who argued upon the false issue, that bishop and 
presbyter or elder are official synonymes in the scriptures, 
and no man can be said to have intelligibly made up his 
mind for presbyterianism, who never penetrated beyond 
that tiny point, first started and ever since mooted in the 
high court of ignorance. Had he actually seen the naked 
question, as it was seen and examined by his predecessor, 
from the candour and integrity visible in his writings, and 
from the declaration quoted in the second sermon of this 
series, I feel myself justified in believing, that he would no 
less nobly have spurned the incumbency, only to be retain- 
ed by the sacrifice of conscience, the suppression of a firm 
belief that the episcopal was the only ministry recognised 
in the word of God. 

But allow me to tell you, that were the false issue to be 
regarded as the true one ; were it even conceded that the 
interchangeable use of the titles, bishop and presbyter, 
might be rightly insisted upon, as having a manifest bear- 
ing in the existing inquiry, yet would it not benefit the 
present presbyterian cause to the value of a straw. At- 
tend, brethren, with seriousness and impartiality to the rea- 



SERMON XIX. 245 

son about to be assigned. It is perfectly invulnerable. 
Before ye are entitled to move a single step in the usual 
course of the controversy, ye are bound to attempt the 
herculean task of removing an obstacle, which lies at the 
threshold yourselves have formed. For if bishop and 
presbyter be the same thing, and there is no other clerical 
office, yet can it not be proved, that the presbyterians have 
it in their possession. 

In modern times, it has indeed become wonderfully fash- 
ionable to ridicule the idea of ministerial succession, 
through the tainted channel of Romanism. With infinite 
derision are we treated, often as our bishops are alleged to 
have derived their authority from bishops, who lived an- 
te riour to the reformation. But what said the famous 
Westminster assembly of divines, in a work published un- 
der their auspices, entitled, The divine right of the minis- 
try of England ?" " The receiving of our ordination from 
Christ and his apostles and the primitive churches, and all 
along through the apostate church of Rome, is so far from 
nullifying our ministry or disparaging of it, that it is a great 
strengthening of it, when it shall appear to all the world, 
that our ministry is derived to us from Christ, and his 
apostles, by succession of a ministry, continued in the 
church for sixteen hundred years, and that we have a line- 
al succession from the apostles." 

Here then we have, as in the standards of the sect, full 
admission of the necessity of an uninterrupted succession, 
in order to constitute a valid ordination ; and not only this, 
but very plainly and emphatically is it urged, that the deri- 
vation, through the apostate Roman church, actually 
strengthens the presbyterian ministry, instead of working 
its nullification or disparagement. And no wonder that 
such language was used. Calvin, from whom the presby- 
terians obtain the only ordination they have, was a pres- 
byter or elder of the Roman church, and in virtue of that 
office alone do his followers claim to participate in the re- 
quired apostolick succession. But when closely analyzed, 
no claim can be more futile or absurd. 

Allow me to illustrate my meaning by reference to my 
own case. The very same office, held by Calvin in the 
Roman hierarchy, is possessed by me, however unworthy, 
in the protestant episcopal church in these United States, 

21 



246 



SERMON X I X ■ 



But when advanced to that honour, the service, employed 
by the officiating bishop, contained not a single word, con- 
veying authority to the person ordained to confer holy or- 
ders upon others. In that for the consecration of bishops, 
it is different. The question is asked, " Will you be faith- 
ful in ordaining, sending, or laying hands upon others ?" 
And the answer is given, " I will so be by the help of 
God." But nothing of the kind occurs when presby- 
ters are ordained. So far from this, the question is, " Will 
vou reverently obe} r your bishop ?" The answer, " I will 
so do, the Lord being my helper." What monstrous ab- 
surdity then would it not be to pretend to have had pow- 
er given me to ordain other presbyters ! The understand- 
ing of the whole church was the very reverse. The two 
authorized services, from which I have quoted, with nu- 
merous other passages in the prayer book, place this point 
beyond all dispute. Nay more : The ordaining bishop 
had no design whatever to grant such authority. At the 
time, it never entered into my own mind, that it had been 
conferred upon me. What monstrous absurdity then, I 
repeat, would it not be, at this late period, to indulge in so 
idle a pretence ; a pretence, that would enable me to con- 
vey a power to others never conveyed to myself ! Surely, 
its preposterous character must be too apparent to be over- 
looked by the dullest comprehension. 

For the sake of argument, I will even suppose, that the 
authority ought to have been bestowed, and was wrong- 
fully withheld ; yet was it not bestowed, yet was it with- 
held. And the errour, provided it were an errour, is only 
so much the more fatal from this express understanding. 
In all legal conveyances, nothing more can be taken, than 
that which appears upon the instrument itself. Not even 
a slip of the pen can be corrected. A fter a will is made, 
no subsequent intention of the testator to alter its bequests 
will be allowed to be given in evidence in a court of justice, 
for the purpose of defeating or annulling the probate there- 
of. Much less then can advantage be taken of an errour 
in ordination, when the alleged slip was designed, and the 
first intention never changed. If a legacy were left to the 
bishops of our episcopal church, the judicial tribunal could 
not be found, which would suffer any of our presbyters to 
claim a proportionate share, either upon the ground, that 



SERMON XIX. 



247 



they were as valid bishops themselves, or upon the still 
more ridiculous pretext, that their ordination ought to have 
included the powers pertaining to that high office. 

And such, brethren, precisely such is the predicament in 
which ye stand, in relation to your imaginary legal ordina- 
tion. Calvin never had higher authority conferred upon 
him, than is now conferred upon our presbyters. No bish- 
op ever gave it. Never did he himself pretend to have 
received it from any bishop. His ordination was of the 
same character with mine. In that light, did he regard it. 
Upon what he construed into a case of absolute necessity, 
did he alone venture upon the melancholy innovation of 
ordaining others, by the imposition of his own hands, ille- 
gitimacy is therefore fairly stamped upon his initiatory 
acts of this description ; and it is only the more indelibly 
stamped upon your own, by every successive remove 
from the original nullity. For the reasons assigned, ye 
are precluded from saying, that the Roman bishop ought to 
have delegated to Calvin the power of ordination, and with- 
held it wrongfully. And if ye abandon this and take the 
stand, that the right to ordain is one of the attributes of a 
presbyter, indispensable to the office, and inalienable from 
it, the consequence would be, if possible, still more ruin- 
ous to your pretensions. It would only prove, that Cal- 
vin was never made a presbyter. The omission to be- 
stow upon him such a prerogative, as you say, the pres- 
byters of the new testament possessed, as one of the es- 
sential adjuncts of their order, would render nugatory the 
whole transaction, and reduce him to the condition of a lay- 
man. 

So much therefore for the false issue, that bishops and 
presbyters occupy the same office in the scriptures. If it 
were the actual question to be tried, and the whole con- 
troversy were to be settled on that universally admitted 
fact, rather than upon the true issue, whether our bishops 
are or are not the successors of the apostles, in the apos- 
tolick office itself, it would not, as I before remarked, bene- 
fit your cause to the value of a straw. The enect would 
be to cut off your presbyters on the one hand, and those 
belonging to the episcopal church on the other. We 
should be in the same position with Calvin. The omission, 
fatal in his case, would be equally fatal in ours. One of 



248 



SERMON XIX. 



the indelible prerogatives of a presbyter has been pur- 
posely retained from our possession ; and destitute of this, 
presbyters we are not. While your clergy are mere 
laymen, we can only claim to hold the scriptural office of 
a deacon, in virtue of a previous ordination to that order. 
Those, whom christians call apostolick bishops, are the 
only ecclesiasticks, to whom the right of ordination has 
been confided ; and, agreeably to the false issue in ques- 
tion, are the sole persons holding the scripturally identical 
office of bishops or presbyters. If ye can avoid these 
conclusions, let it not be done, I pray you, by avoiding 
their discussion. Upon your own principle, your preten- 
sions are proved to be utterly untenable. Ye must come 
to our bishops in order to obtain the very ordination for 
which ye contend. 

My next inquiry will embrace the case of the congre- 
gationalists of New England. But lest the necessity of 
an uninterrupted succession should be denied by some of the 
novices of this denomination, let me first present you with 
some important concessions, from the late venerable doc- 
tor Joseph Lathrop, one of its most distinguished divines. 
" Many centuries," it will be said, " have elapsed since 
Christ commissioned his apostles, and since they ordained 
their successors. And how can we know, that the suc- 
cession has been continued without interruption ? And if 
there has been an interruption, then there was a time 
when ordination was taken up anew by private christians. 
What then are all present ordinations, traced to their ori- 
gin, but lay ordinations ?" 

In answer to this, he goes on, not to prove, but to assert 
the doctrine of the imposition of hands being intrusted to 
elders. And having disposed of this point to his own sat- 
isfaction, in the strangest way imaginable, he progresses 
in this manner, " We have an express promise from 
Christ, that he will support his church, and be with his 
ministers always even to tire end of the world. When we 
compare this promise with the institution of the ministry, 
and the mode of introduction which immediately followed, 
we think it can import no less, than that a regular minis- 
try should never cease in the church, nor any necessity 
occur for departing from the instituted manner of intro- 
duction. We have the institution, the promise, and the 



SERMON XIX. 



249 



apostolick practice, in our favour. And what more do 
we need 1 The promise so emphatically expressed, and 
so clearly interpreted by subsequent usage, must, we think, 
be understood as we have stated it. It is, then, by no 
means necessary, that by historical deduction, we should 
prove an uninterrupted succession. We have a right to 
presume it, until evidence appears to the contrary. If any 
say, the succession has failed, the burden of proof must lie 
wholly on them. Let them, from incontestable history, 
show us the time, place, and manner, in which it termin- 
ated ; who were the last ministers in the line from the 
apostles ; who the first in the new line ; who the laymen 
that ordained them ; and where was the scene of the 
transaction. Until we have this information, we rely on 
the promise of Christ, in the sense in which we under- 
stand it." ^ 

And here, brethren, I do assure you, that every word, I 
have quoted, is in precise accordance with the views of 
the church, so far as principle is concerned. The doctrine 
of succession is rightly set forth, with the necessity of not 
departing from it, and the true method by which a depar- 
ture is to be ascertained. It is in the application alone, 
that we find ourselves at issue with your departed theolo- 
gian. In the protestant episcopal church, the regular line 
of ordination from the apostles has continued perfect and 
entire, wanting nothing. Even the Romanists, Courayer 
and Lingard admit this without the smallest scruple, and 
after a thorough investigation. But when the presbyteri- 
an church is brought into notice, we deny the right of 
presbyters to ordain, and, with Calvin's usurpation of that 
right, exhibit the first flagrant breach of an uninterrupted 
succession, including all whose ministry is derived from 
him. The next may be said to constitute a material 
widening of the breach at Geneva ; and inasmuch as the 
good doctor has fairly stated on whom the burden of proof 
devolves, and fairly challenged its production, I do not 
hesitate, at this late period, to accept that challenge, as 
though it came from the congregationalists at large. In 
other words, I am bold to affirm, that the testimony, to be 
brought, forward on this subject, will be sufficient to con- 
vince every unprejudiced mind, that the congregationalists 
have not even a plausible claim to any thing beyond lay 

21* 



250 



SERMON XIX. 



ordination. If presbyterianism were true, and presbyters 
could ordain presbyters, yet are they defective in this 
respect. They have not such ordination, invalid as it is, 
lay as it is, in reality, because I shall clearly prove, that 
in their case it was not even a succession of supposed pres- 
byters ; it w T as body after body of acknowledged laymen, 
who arrogated to themselves the sole right of laying on 
hands, and thus creating the ministers of the Lord Jesus. 

Already have I had occasion to spread before you the 
answer of the New England divines, when their brethren 
in the old country, " such w r riters as the sweet spirited 
Herle and the warm spirited Rutherford," strongly object- 
ed to their allowing the imposition of hands by the people; 
an answer, which so far from denying the prevalence of 
the custom, justified it on the ground, that it was at no 
greater variance with the scriptures, than " the imposition 
of hands on ordinary pastors by any ordinary pastors at 
all." But I am not obliged to rely on such statements 
alone. From the first settlement of the country, in sixteen 
hundred and twenty, for a long period, lay ordinations 
were in universal request. They entirely superseded all 
others, and were deemed so essential, that the very clergy, 
who came from England, were compelled to be reordain- 
ed by the people, before they were received as pastors. 

Several instances of this description occurred at an early 
date, from which I make the following selections. In Sa- 
lem, " on the twentieth of July, sixteen hundred and twenty- 
eight, Mr. Higginson and Sir. Skelton, after fasting and 
prayer, were first elected by the company for their minis- 
ters, the first teacher, the other pastor, each of them, to- 
gether with three or four grave members, laying their 
hands on the other with solemn prayer. Nothing is said of 
any church being then formed. But on the sixth of Au- 
gust, the day appointed for the choice and ordination of 
elders and deacons, thirty persons entered into a covenant 
in writing, which is said to be the beginning of the church, 
and that the ministers were ordained or instituted anew. 
The repetition of this form, they probably thought neces- 
sary, because the people were not in a church state before. 
It is difficult to assign any other reason." ' 

" At Charlestown the governour, deputy governour, Mr. 
Johnson, who had removed from Salem/ and the minister 



SERMON XIX. 



251 



Mr. Wilson, on the thirtieth of July, sixteen hundred and 
thirty, the fast day, entered into a church covenant. Two 
days after, they allowed five more to join them, and so 
others from time to time. And at length they in form 
chose Mr. Wilson for their minister, and ordained him. 
But all joined in a protestation, that it was not a renouncing 
of the ministry he had received in England, but that it 
was a confirmation of their election." 

" One company, who were designed for New England, 
formed themselves into a church, in the new hospital at 
Plymouth, and John Warham and John Maverick were 
chosen and ordained their ministers. Both of them had 
before been ordained by bishops." 

" I have seen an account of an ordination, about the year 
sixteen hundred and forty, of Mr. Hooke, of Taunton, 
then Cohasset, in Plymouth colony, by the schoolmaster 
and one of the brethren, a husbandman, ' although Mr. 
Wilson and Mr. Mather, two ministers, were present." 

At Salem, August twenty-ninth, sixteen hundred and 
sixty, " major Hathorn and two of the deacons of the 
church, laying their hands on Mr. Higginson's head, pro- 
nounced words of ordination, and prayed over him. And 
then major Hathorn exhorted the church in a few words 
to remember their duty, et cetera, towards him whom 
they had ordained to be their pastor. Then Mr. Higgih- 
son did, after the same manner as is before expressed, pro- 
ceed to the ordination of Mr. Brown for the ruling elder ; 
which being done, they sung a psalm and concluded with 
prayer." 

All this has been extracted from Hutchinson's history of 
Massachusetts, and affords abundant evidence of the zeal, 
with which the lay pilgrims usurped the ordaining power, 
and the pertinacity, with which the principle is carried out, 
that the congregation of the Lord's people was the foun- 
tain of ecclesiastical authority. Not one word in proof 
of either assumption can be adduced from the sacred vol- 
ume. Even the deacons, spoken of in the sixth chapter 
of the Acts and chosen by the multitude, were ordained 
by the laying on of the hands of the apostles. But here 
the laity undertake to convey the still higher office of a 
presbyter. Here they are not simply content with eleva- 
ting acknowledged laymen to that order. Such as were 



252 



S E R M ON XIX. 



already ordained were required to pass under their ma- 
nipular yoke. 

In the first instance, those ordained appear indeed to 
have been graciously allowed each to unite in the cer- 
emony performed on the other. In another case, the per- 
son ordained was permitted in his turn to lay hands on an 
inferiour officer, called a ruling elder. But beyond this, no 
concession was tendered. The prerogative of the laity, 
was preserved with such exceeding jealousy, that on the 
occasion where two of the clergy were actually present, 
a schoolmaster and a husbandman were preferred before 
them. Yes, these were your ordainers, ye clerical sons of 
the pilgrims, and such was the spectacle two of your breth- 
ren were forced to witness, with folded hands and unruffled 
brow. If the ferula be the ensign, borne by those having 
authority to ordain, if the ploughshare and the sword di- 
vide the honour, your official power is desecrated by no 
admixture, of which ye have cause to be sorrowful. All 
is pure ; all would have been pure, though even the dis- 
taff had been equally and actively the emblem there. 
True, it would not be presbyterian ordination, nor have ye 
the semblance of a right to give it this designation. But 
with the admission, hypothetically made, the ceremony 
consummated by these kicks need not alarm you. Other- 
wise, it seems impossible, that ye should not agree with 
me, in pronouncing the clerical commissions, ye possess, 
altogether destitute of any thing like the sanction of God's 
written word. 

At all events, ye must not suggest, that I have produced 
the only example in your history, of a lay ordination in 
the immediate presence of the clergy. If access could 
be had to the records of your oldest societies, no doubt 
hundreds on hundreds might be brought to light. As it is, 
all my information must be gained through the medium of 
the press. And the history of Connecticut, by Dr. Trum- 
bull, a congregational divine, supplies me with two instan- 
ces, in a brief compass. " In sixteen hundred and sixty, 
Mr. Fitch and the greatest part of his church removed to 
Norwich. Mr. Thomas Buckingham succeeded him in 
the ministry at Saybrook. A council of ministers and 
churches assisted at his ordination ; but the imposition of 
hands was performed by the brethren, as it had been be- 



SERMON XIX. 



253 



fore in the ordination of Mr. Fitch. The council consid- 
ered it an irregular proceeding. But the brethren were so 
tenacious of what they esteemed their right, that it could 
not be prevented without much inconvenience." Singu- 
larity was not therefore the characteristick of the Taun- 
ton case. This is even more remarkable. Not content 
to sit in silence, the clergy oppose the repetition of the 
scene, which had previously been exhibited in the same 
place, at the ordination of the former pastor. But their 
opposition availeth not. The brethren are resolute and 
determined. The ceremony proceeds ; and again do we 
find the heralds of the cross useless agents and spectators, 
where they would have fain conducted all things, in the 
excellency of their wisdom and the plenitude of their 
power. 

The remainder of the discussion on this topick must be 
deferred to the succeeding discourse. In the interim, I 
must insist, brethren, upon your candid and dispassionate 
attention. Partisans are too prone to be heated, when 
the cause they espouse is not regarded with the admira- 
tion, they have been accustomed to offer at its shrine. But 
if I remember right, it was Burton, in his anatomy of 
melancholy, who said, 

" The best and surest method of advice 

" Should spare the person, though it brand the vice." 

And this is the rule, heartily adopted by me, in the ex- 
isting effort to sustain the true christian priesthood. You 
I love, but your errour I love not. You I should exult to 
behold members of the same church, and stewards of the 
same mysteries with rne ; but for the idol of your hearts, 
if an idol it be, for this I have not a particle of veneration 
or regard. It is one of the main obstacles to the extended 
triumphs of the cross. Plainly do I urge you in the words 
of the parable; "Cut it down: Why cumbereth it the 
ground V But your souls, my prayer is, that they may 
so ripen in grace here below, that heaven may be the 
garner of their joy, forever and forever. Amen. 



SERMON XX. 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

FOR ZIOn's SAKE WILL I NOT HOLD MY PEACE, AND FOR 

Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETH. 

Nothing perhaps can be more tedious to the reader than 
the introduction of a large amount of foreign matter, into 
the body of a discourse, for the purpose of illustration or 
of proof, unless the extracts are interesting in themselves 
and fully accord with prior prepossessions. But then the 
labour of research, of transfer, and of arrangement is still 
more tedious. If the reader's patience be wearied, how 
severe must be the trial imposed upon the writer's en- 
durance ! In all debatable questions, authorities are how- 
ever of indispensable necessity. It is a long time since 
facts have taken the precedence of theory, and I could not 
pay a greater compliment to the discernment and integrity 
of those, to whose perusal these pages are commended, and 
for whose benefit they are composed, than I have done, in 
bringing forward so great a mass of testimony from the 
scriptures and the admissions of their own divines, as the 
only legitimate mode of convincing the judgment and 
securing a favourable suffrage. Rhetorick is very good in 
its place ; but facts are still better. And these I am con- 
strained to multiply, at the risk of encountering the dis- 
pleasure of the superficial on the one hand ; the dormancy 
of the careless and indifferent on the other. 

To the proof already submitted of the lay ordination, 
practised by the congregationalists, it will be desirable to 
superadd that, which appears in the early formularies of the 
sect. And here it will be amusing to observe the obvious 



SERMON XX. 



255 



embarrassment of the leaders in their proceedings, and the 
contradictions, in which they either involve themselves or 
their posterity. In the year sixteen hundred and forty 
nine, " A platform of church discipline" was " agreed upon 
by the elders and messengers of the churches, assembled in 
the synod, at Cambridge, in New England." In the spirit 
of compromise, I should judge, a nominal or nearly inope- 
rative concession is first made to the clergy. " In such 
churches, where there are elders, imposition of hands in 
ordination is to be performed by those elders." But when 
the very object of an ordination is usually to fill a vacancy, 
how many churches would there be possessed of elders, 
two or more, when the rite was to be celebrated ? The 
provision appears to me to have been the merest cipher 
imaginable. It only recognises a concurrent power, under 
circumstances seldom existing. 

But the provision, upon w T hich the parties would be con- 
stantly invited to' act, was couched in equally strong terms ; 
and an argument was appended, asserting the validity of 
the lay ordination, which has been charged upon the de- 
nomination. " In such churches where there are no elders, 
imposition of hands may be performed by some of the 
brethren, orderly chosen by the church thereunto. For if 
the people may elect officers, which is the greater, and 
wherein the substance of the office doth consist, they may 
much more, occasion and need so requiring, impose hands 
in ordination, which is the less, and but the accomplishing 
of the other." And then follows the somewhat dubious 
addition : Nevertheless, in such churches where there 
are no elders, and the church do desire, we see not why 
imposition of hands may not be performed by the elders of 
other churches." 

Here, therefore, brethren, we perceive both clergy and 
laity, in solemn convocation, boldly maintaining the pre- 
rogative of laymen to ordain ; thus ratifying all their pre- 
vious ordinations for near thirty years, and in effect sur- 
rendering the whole process to them, as vacant churches 
would have no elders, and those of other churches could 
only act by invitation on the part of men, too much 
elated with their own conceded rights to transfer them in 
this manner. The consequence was, that the innovation 
proceeded, for a length of years, on the full tide of success- 



256 



SERMON XX. 



ful experiment, notwithstanding the animadversions and 
remonstrances of the English puritans. In sixteen hun- 
dred and seventy-nine, the same platform was approved 
by a synod assembled at Boston, and, so far as my know- 
ledge extends, has never been formally repealed. 

For some reason or other, the jealousy of the clergy 
appears, however, to have been at length effectually rous- 
ed. They did not relish the statuary attitude to which they 
were condemned, in the most interesting of their religious 
ceremonials, the actual laying on of hands. But, perhaps 
despairing of success in a synod, partly composed of lay- 
men, they resolved upon a kind of ex parte procedure, the 
result of which, Mather gives us under this caption ; " De- 
termination given by a late assembly of our ministers at 
Cambridge ;" which must have taken place about the year 
sixteen hundred and ninety-eight. It contained, among 
other things, these decisive passages ; " The power of 
government belongs only to the elders of the church." 
" Were the government of the church, as much in the 
brethren as in the elders, then the whole body were all 
eye, w 7 hich it is not." " Most unexceptionable is the impo- 
sition of hands by a presbytery, but more exceptionable 
by a fraternity. The word of God mentions the former 
expressly, but not the latter, in the new testament. They 
were such hands as Titus's, that were to ordain elders. 
What need of that, if the hands of common believers were 
sufficient ? They were such hands as Timothy's, that 
were to make over church betrustments unto faithful men 
able to teach others." 

Never, brethren, no never was there, in any church, a 
more flagrant contradiction of long acknowledged princi- 
ples than is here exhibited. Their ancestors had denied 
the existence of a scripture example of ordination, by any 
ordinary pastors. Two of their synods had decided, " If 
the people may elect officers, which is the greater, and 
wherein the substance of the office doth consist, they may 
much more occasion and need so requiring, impose hands 
in ordination, which -is the less, and only the accomplish- 
ing of the other." But here ordination by a presbytery, 
meaning a body of elders, is affirmed to be expressly 
warranted in the scriptures ; and that, by the people, is 
impliedly condemned in the form of a question. " They 



SERMON XX. 



257 



were such hands as Titus's, that were to ordain elders. 
What need of that, if the hands of common believers were 
sufficient ?" To have gone further, at this period, would 
have been perfectly suicidal. It would have stripped off 
the clerical garb from their own persons. If lay ordina- 
tion had been pronounced utterly invalid, it would have 
reduced them to the level of laymen. Hence the shrewd 
manner with which it is first tarnished as exceptionable, 
and then adroitly disposed of with a query. 

Various indeed seem to have been the devices to get 
rid of a now troublesome feature, in the congregational 
economy. In relation to the earlier divines, Mather says, 
" They reckoned not ordination to be essential unto the 
vocation of a minister, any more than coronation to the 
being of a king." Which is as much as to avoid its ne- 
cessity entirely, since coronation is a mere ceremony. In 
England, it does not add a fraction to the royal preroga- 
tive, and if never celebrated, not a fraction would be lost. 
The demise of the crown is instantly followed by the acces- 
sion of the heir apparent or presumptive, as the case may be. 

But having thus accounted for the original complaisance 
of the clergy to the demands of the brethren ; having re- 
corded their answer to the expostulation from England 
heretofore cited ; having also shown us the instruction 
given them by Caldervvood, about the two prepositions, 
by and which, without daring to impeach the virtue of lay 
orders, he is evidently very desirous to make them as in- 
considerable in number as possible, and even ventures to 
sport a patrician sarcasm upon them, in such terms as 
these, " Setting aside a few plebeian ordinations, in the 
beginning of the world here among us, there have been 
rarely any ordinations managed by our churches but by 
the hands of presbyters." 

Observe, however, brethren, that to arrive at this result, 
he is obliged to set aside what he calls the " few plebeian 
ordinations," which I strongly suspect, comprised all, or 
nearly all, that were celebrated for many years. If not, 
let us have the records. They will speak for themselves. 
And even the result itself is far from satisfactory. It still 
shows the hands of laymen in this thing. It was still 
necessary to waive the subject of their authority to ordain. 
Governour Hutchinson brings down his history to the year 

22 



258 



SERMON XX. 



seventeen hundred and fifty, and, after giving the Taunton 
case, where the laity ordained in the presence of the 
clergy, remarks, " But the general practice was other- 
wise ; and at this day, an ordination by the lay brethren, 
although it might not be condemned as invalid, yet would 
be generally disapproved and discountenanced." 

What a change ! Silent and imperceptible at the first, 
but effective and . sure ! That which originally gratified 
all hearts, and was applauded by every tongue, is now 
only not condemned as invalid. Old men were perhaps 
still living, who would have been broken hearted under 
such a decision. It would have denounced the only ordi- 
nation they had enjoyed. But, in the case of the larger 
proportion of the living, the graveyard effectually screens 
past delinquencies. For some years, a succession of cler- 
ical ordinations had imb oldened the priesthood to take a 
more decided stand than before. As early as seventeen 
hundred and fifty-nine, I find, in the printed journal kept 
by the first minister of the present city of Portland, a rather 
sneering account of a lay ordination, which was at that 
time celebrated in an adjacent town. " Mr. Townsend 
was ordained in Gorham. Captain Phinney prayed be- 
fore the charge, and captain Morton gave it, and Towns- 
end did all the rest." 

But cautious reprehension, and even sneers, were ulti- 
mately destined to give way to bolder measures, and the 
proudest victory was gained over the plebeian cause, and 
the once vaunted plebeian rights. The congregational 
minister of Otis, Massachusetts, in the published history 
of the town, inserts the following extraordinary narrative ; 
" In seventeen hundred and seventy-two, before the town 
was incorporated, a person came into it, by the name of 
George Troop, pretending to be a candidate for the min- 
istry, whom the inhabitants employed several years, though 
it appeared finally, that he had no license to preach. On 
a certain occasion, some of his hearers undertook to or- 
dain him, and then he, on his part, undertook to form them 
into a church. When he had done that, he led them to 
the choice of deacons. At length both the church and 
people lost their confidence in him. An ecclesiastical 
council, convened in the early part of seventeen hundred 
and seventy-five, decided that he had no authority to preach, 



SERMON XX, 



259 



or to organize a church, and that his church was not a 
regular church of Christ." 

So true it is, therefore, brethren, that the verity of con- 
gregational or lay ordination was eventually exploded by 
an ecclesiastical tribunal, composed of the very men, on 
whom it had vouchsafed to bestow the sacerdotal func- 
tion. It is in vain to say, that the accused was not a candi- 
date for the ministry, and had no license or written per- 
mission to preach. These were trifling disabilities, accord- 
ing to your economy, or if more, ye are utterly precluded 
from asserting, that they were not perfectly cured by the 
lay ordination, to which your spiritual progenitors were so 
ardently attached. In other words, if one was right, the oth- 
er must follow the same rule ; and vice versa, the wrong 
of the one must be the wrong of the other. And wrong 
ye have judicially decided it to be. Nothing can blot out 
this leaf from your annals, nothing can expunge it. More 
than a century had expired, since lay ordination had been 
perpetually transpiring. The people were almost univer- 
sally ignorant of the fact, that it ever had been in vogue ; 
as ignorant in all probability as they now are. Even the 
council may have been in the same predicament. 

But be this as it may, one thing is certain, one thing the 
Atlantick itself cannot wash away, the lay ordination, upon 
which your churches were originally supplied with pas- 
tors, has been, in the instance cited, solemnly adjudged to 
be invalid, by your highest court of judicature ; nay, the 
very church, organized by the people, as in former times, 
is absolutely repudiated and cancelled; on the ground, that 
it " was not a regular church of Christ." If ye object, that 
the people did not organize, because Troop took the lead, 
and it was done at his instigation and by his instrumentali- 
ty, I reply, that he was no more active than Higginson 
and Skelton, at Salem, certainly than Wilson, at Charles- 
town ; or if he were, the decision itself denies his ministe- 
rial vocation, and thus incorporates him with the associate 
body of the people, in the process of organization. Per- 
fectly unexceptionable then is the case I have spread be- 
fore you. Overwhelming is its authority when applied to 
your favourite Congregationalism. If such a designation 
can be rightly appropriated to an ecclesiastical judgment, 
never was the spiritual felo de se so completely personified. 



280 



SERMON XX. 



No other hands have dug the remorseless grave ; no 
other have rung the funeral knell. When the interment 
shall ensue, it is for the living, it is for yourselves to de- 
cide. 

In the meantime, it is my province to stir you up to the 
remembrance, that from this period, the New England di- 
vines had no difficulty in openly discountenancing and de- 
nying, what had been previously stigmatized with the anti- 
republican epithet, plebeian. Preaching on the subject of 
ordination, doctor Smalley maintained, " It is very evident, 
that this was confined to those, who had themselves been 
ordained. If the private brethren w T ere allowed to set apart 
their own ministers, why was Titus left at Crete, to ordain 
elders in every city ? And what can be the reason, that 
in all the epistles to the churches, there is not a single di- 
rection relative to the performance of this service, when 
those to Timothy and Titus, are full of such directions ?" 
Ay, sure enough, w T hat can be the reason ? The preacher 
appears to have been entirely unaware, that he was here 
overleaping even the presbyterian, and intrenching himself 
within the episcopal, lines. W ell may we all ask, Why 
are the churches and the elders of the churches never en- 
lightened upon the mode of perpetuating the ministry ? 
Why, when the former are either specifically or generally 
addressed in no less than sixteen epistles, is nothing advert- 
ed to having the remotest bearing upon the ordaining 
power ? Why is the whole of the new testament alike 
void of directions on this subject to elders ? Why, when 
there are no more than three epistles to apostles, those 
to Timothy and Titus, why are they alone filled with in- 
structions pertaining to ordination, to be celebrated by 
them in their individual capacity ? These indeed are ques- 
tions of the most pertinent character. And it is high time 
that they were fairly met and answered. Soon should we 
conquer the last struggles of schism. The oblivion of lay, 
would soon be the oblivion of presbyterian, orders. 

Nor must I forget to remind you, brethren, that the 
views of doctor Lathrop, already adduced, are precisely 
of the same character with those of his brother divine. 
Concerning " the imposition of the hands of elders," his 
doctrine is, " This usage was invariably, and without a 
single deviation, continued as long as the sacred history 



SERMON XX. 



261 



affords any light." But while this is altogether gratuitous 
and unfounded, not one such example being given, the 
writer is determined to put down all the claims of the laity, 
and for this purpose he even proceeds to argue the case of 
necessity, so often and so idly objected, in this sound and 
convincing manner, " It will be asked, What if a number 
of christians should be cast on a desolate coast or island, or 
should emigrate to a country, secluded from intercourse 
with the christian world, and should have among them no 
ordained minister? May they not ordain ministers for 
themselves ? May not ministers, thus ordained, venture to 
officiate ? But tell me first," he continues, " tell me first, 
w T here is this solitary island or coast, this secluded country 
of christians 1 Did you ever read of a colony of pious 
christians emigrating to a new country, who forgot to take 
ministers with them, or whom no ministers would accom- 
pany or follow 1 If no such case has ever happened, or is 
ever likely to happen, it is not strange, that the head of the 
church has made no provision for it, nor is it necessary that 
we should undertake to remedy the omission." A more 
fatal blow could not be aimed at the constant practice of 
his ancestors. How little could that practice have been 
known, when such a man seems to have been profoundly 
ignorant of its existence. Strangely must it have been 
concealed from the publick inspection. Again must I re- 
peat the hope, that the full extent of the innovation may 
yet be submitted to the scrutinizing gaze of every eye. 

One remarkable case I have reserved to the present 
moment, owing to the singular circumstances, attending its 
disclosure. They will show how wonderfully acute the 
vision is, when the precincts of a neighbour are to be ac- 
curately scanned and striking defects blazoned abroad, 
without the slightest suspicion, of having the same poisoned 
chalice returned to our own lips, with redoubled moral 
force. A few years since, there appeared in one of the 
congregational periodicals, an article, with the question 
paraded in front, " Who baptized Roger Williams V This 
person is well known to have been the founder of the 
baptist sect, in New England ; and the true object of the 
inquiry being to strike at the validity of the immersing 
rite, an extract from the history of the baptist church, at 
Providence, immediately succeeds. " Being settled in this 

22* 



262 



SERMON XX. 



place, which, from the kindness of God to them, they called 
Providence, Mr. Williams, and those with him, considered 
the importance of gospel union, and were desirous of form- 
ing themselves into a church ; but met with considerable 
obstruction. They were convinced of the nature and de- 
sign of believer's baptism by immersion ; but from a vari- 
* ety of circumstances had hitherto been prevented from 
submersion. To obtain a suitable administrator was a 
matter of consequence. At length, the candidates for 
communion nominated and appointed Ezekiel Holliman, a 
man of gifts and piety, to baptize Mr. Williams, and who 
in return baptized Mr. Holliman and the other ten." 

After the perusal of such a document, the person must 
be blind indeed not to regard it, in the light already stated. 
And most effectually does it answer the purpose designed. 
According to the doctrine of our baptist friends, the only 
right mode of initiation into the church is by the actual 
submerging of the whole body, in the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. But, of the twelve 
persons above referred to, not a single one had so passed 
beneath the waters. Upon their own principles, they 
were consequently aliens from the visible church, being 
neither ministers nor members thereof. And yet, notwith- 
standing this, notwithstanding the difficulty lying heavy 
upon their own minds, occasioned by the absence of an 
authorized administrator, these individuals at length deter- 
mined to surmount an insurmountable obstacle, and pos- 
terity are invited to survey them in the most puerile of all 
puerile attitudes. One of their number, not a member of 
the church, undertakes to admit a second by immersion 
into the sacred enclosure, and then this second very kindly 
admits the one who had admitted him, with ten of his asso- 
ciates, to the same high privilege. 

Certainly, brethren, a more extraordinary spectacle was 
never exhibited by men, having the smallest pretensions to 
either reason or religion. Here is baptism more invalid 
than lay, for like reasoning in a circle, it is baptizing in a 
circle, commencing with the unbaptized. I hazard noth- 
ing in saying, that there is not a baptist church in the 
country, which would now tolerate a ceremonial, so utter- 
ly absurd and inefficacious. It would be denounced by 
all as freely as was the Otis plebeian ordination. They, 



SERMON XX. 



283 



who derive all their authority from such an illegitimate 
source, and are still so wonderfully zealous for what they 
pronounce the only scriptural mode of baptizing, had much 
better turn their attention to those scriptures, with the de- 
termination, of either establishing the legality of lay bap- 
tism by unbaptized hands, or else of forthwith abandoning 
a society, in its origin so completely identified with " the 
baseless fabrick of a vision." 

No wonder that our congregationalist brethren seized 
with avidity upon so flagrant an assumption of sacerdotal 
power. Their own assembled clergy had early arrived 
at such adjudications as these. " We find no commission 
or permission from our Lord Jesus Christ, for any to be 
administrators of baptism, except those whose work it. is, 
by his commission to preach the gospel. And none have 
a commission to make the preaching of the gospel their 
work, but such as are, with the call of the faithful thereun- 
to, set apart for that work. Baptism is a seal of the cov- 
enant ; for any but an officer to apply the seal, in the name 
of the great king of heaven, is a presumptuous arrogance. 
Baptism is one of the evangelical mysteries, and none but 
stewards in the house of our Lord Jesus Christ, may pre- 
tend unto the dispensation of those mysteries. The apos- 
tolick writings intimate that some are sent to baptize. 
Hence, none are to baptize, but those that are sent." No- 
thing can be more conclusive ; no syllogism more invinci- 
ble. The only marvel is, that the doctrine should have 
been proclaimed by individuals, too purblind to perceive, 
that it demolished the precise edifice they themselves had 
been so industrious in rearing. If lay baptism be invalid, 
lay ordination can be no better. And surprising it is, that 
they, who gave the death blow to the one, should not have 
dreamed, that it was equally fatal to the other. 

Even the conductors of the congregational periodical in 
question appear to have been no less opaque in their per- 
ceptions. When they hurled their bolt, little did they 
think of the violent rebound about to ensue. But not so 
their baptist antagonists. Clearly could they detect the 
fault committed, and unrelentingly did they expose it to 
the publick gaze. To the question, " Who baptized Roger 
Williams ?" they, in their turn, had the audacity to retort. 



264 



SERMON XX. 



" Who ordained Mr. Allin, of Dedham, Massachusetts ?" 
As if determined not to fail in the like species of courtesy, 
they then proceed to furnish us, with an extract from the 
church records of this town, detailing a transaction, exact- 
ly similar in principle to the one, so inconsiderately array- 
ed against them. 

It occurred in sixteen hundred and thirty-nine. 11 Mr. 
J. Allin desired the church, seeing the Lord had carried 
them along thus far, that they would depute some in the 
name of the church to set him apart to that work by prayer 
and laying on of hands, propounding the persons formerly 
agreed upon, namely J. Allin, R. Wheelock, and Edward 
Allin : The church testify that they should perform which 
by lifting up of hands. The other two came into their 
seat, where the two intended officers were, and so having 
all laid their hands upon the head of John Hunting, with 
solemn prayer to God and the Lord Jesus, king ol saints, 
for his presence, blessing, and plenty of all needful gifts and 
graces upon him for such a work, and with a solemn charge 
laid upon him to be faithful and diligent to fulfil his minis- 
tration, he added this or like words ; In the name of the 
Lord Jesus and by his power committed to his church, we 
do ordain thee, John Hunting, unto the office of a ruling 
elder in the church of Christ. These things done, he then, 
according to his office, proceeded to propound things to 
the church about Mr. J. Allin for a pastor, after the same 
manner as is before expressed, and after election by a gen- 
eral vote of the church and humble acceptation of the 
same, he, John Hunting, with the other two brethren, 
laying on hands with solemn prayer, et cetera, in the name 
of Christ and his church, did ordain him to the office of a 
pastor unto the church : All which proceedings were car- 
ried by him with that gravity, comely order, without hesi- 
tation, and with such effectual and appropriate prayers and 
exhortations to the church and pastor, as gave very sweet 
testimony to all the church and assembly of the presence 
of the Lord with him in those first fruits of his office. 
Which work being thus by the grace of God accomplish- 
ed, the elders of other churches present, by Mr. Whiting, 
pastor of the church at Lynn, testified their love and ap- 
probation of the proceedings of the church by giving the 



SERMON XX. 



265 



officers chosen the right hand of fellowship, with a thank- 
ful acknowledgment of the presence of the Lord with the 
church therein." 

Behold, then, brethren, the very counterpart of the lay 
baptism, so evidently published to denote a sovereign con- 
tempt tor the authority of the administrators of the immers- 
ing rite. John Allin and two others first ordain John 
Hunting, and then Hunting and the same two brethren or- 
dain John Allin ! It is even worse than a counterpart. 
For if the twelve baptists could have procured one, whom 
they considered an ordained minister, to have officiated in 
their case, no doubt they would have sincerety rejoiced in 
the opportunity. But in the present instance laymen go 
on to ordain, when those, already regarded by them as 
clergymen, remain inactive spectators of the ceremony, 
only coming forward at its close, to " testify their love and 
approbation of the proceedings of the church, by giving the 
officers chosen the right hand of fellowship, with a thank- 
ful acknowledgment of the presence of the Lord with the 
church therein." I can scarcely conceive of an assault, 
returned with more accumulated force upon the person of 
the assailant. There is not indeed an attempt to justify 
what is obviously no more than lay baptism. That were 
impossible. All that could be reasonably expected was 
an appeal to the now popular code of expediency, growing- 
out of the necessity of the case. But no, not so much as 
this apologetick reply is made. Something more effectual 
is wielded. With a yet more aggravated display of all 
that is null and void in inception, the assailed literally 
storm the citadel of their enemies, and yielding without a 
struggle, its foundations are levelled to the ground. 

What mutual ravages ! What consummate ruin is here ! 
Where are the honest and unbigoted of either party, who 
can withstand these virtual admissions of their leaders, 
that the positions, they respectively occupy, are alike 
worthless and untenable ? Both attack a principle in the 
economy of each other's system, which exists simultane- 
ously in their own. Both still stumble on, heedless of the spu- 
riousness of the origin, they have so irretrievably fastened 
upon each other's skirts. Will the people consent to be 
so easily led ? After so humiliating an exposure, will they 
not rather indignantly break the moral and religious spell, 



me 



SERMON XX. 



in which they have been so long and so ingloriously 
held? 

Perhaps it may be thought, that the lapse of time has 
cured the original malformation, of which we have sub- 
mitted such unanswerable proof. Read what doctor La- 
throp has published, challenging its production, and it will 
be found impossible to retreat in that direction. Look at 
the common law maxim, recognised in all courts of civil 
or criminal jurisprudence, and that which is wrong ab ini- 
tio will be universally pronounced wrong ad infinitum. A 
deed fraudulently made conveys nothing from the grantor 
to the grantee. The land it describes may be transferred 
over and over again, but the last purchaser, through this 
multiplication of deeds, obtains not a more substantial title 
than the first. There are three English families of high 
distinction and enjoying ducal honours, who are admitted 
to be the descendants in a direct line from the second 
Charles. But never have the}^ been adverted to, as hav- 
ing the slightest pretensions to the regal succession. It 
took the line of a brother on the death of their licentious 
ancestor ; and failing in that, the house of Brunswick as- 
cended the throne, through a collateral branch, dating 
as far back as the first James. Near two centuries indeed 
have glided away since their advancement to the peerage, 
and several generations have been laid in dust. But time 
produces no change whatever in the relations they bear to 
the nation. A spurious commencement forbids it, and though 
thousands on thousands of years should continue to roll 
over the heads of their posterity, it will forever forbid. 

It may however be contended, that the lay ordinations 
were not so universally practised, as to be indelibly stamped 
upon the congregational priesthood. The words of Mather 
are ; " Setting aside a few plebeian ordinations in the begin- 
ning of the world here among us, there have been rarely any 
ordinations managed by our churches, but by the hands of 
presbyters." And still, in addition to what has been else- 
where urged, it must be borne in mind, that these very 
presbyters, as he calls them, were such as were ordained 
by laymen, and were consequently possessed of no higher 
authority than their ordainers ; were, even upon presbyte- 
rian principles, utterly incompetent to the induction of any 
person into the office of a presbyter. And this fundamen- 



SERMON XX. 



267 



tal defect, as I have shown you, no duplication or redupli- 
cation of ordinations, though it were to go on to the end 
of the world, can possibly remedy. Six thousand years 
have not purified us from the taint of Adam's sin. Long 
as we remain on earth, it will adhere to us, with as much 
tenacity as the ebon skin to the Ethiop, or the spotted coat 
to the leopard. When the presbyterians charge upon the 
congregationalists the introduction of false doctrine among 
them, let them also bear in mind, that, by taking them un- 
ceremoniously into their pale without reordination, they 
have become large partakers of what they themselves 
would denounce as an illegitimate succession. 

The whole subject demands a serious investigation on 
the part of all those, whose commission to preach the 
gospel is traceable to no higher than lay derivation. It is 
so manifestly at variance with the scriptures ; it has been 
so often and so emphatically condemned by the very men, 
whose forefathers brought it into repute, that I cannot but 
indulge the hope of its being speedily renounced by num- 
bers, who will discover but too much reason to apprehend 
its indissoluble connexion with the entire congregational 
sect. The most ardent admirers of the order must admit, 
that the testimony bears hard upon them. They cannot 
cast it off with the facility, with which they change their 
garments. How much better then is it to yield at once to 
its force, and in the lieu of a human contrivance, ill adapted 
to the object, embrace that, which the wisdom of God 
hath planned and the omnipotent will ordained ? In his 
name, the question is put. In his fear, let it be answered : 
To whom, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, three 
persons and one God, shall be ascribed undivided praises, 
world without end. Amen. 



SERMON XXI, 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

for zion's sake will i not hold my peace, and for 
Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETII. 

Having disposed of the subject of ordination, so as to 
correct many erroneous impressions, widely distributed 
through all parts of the country, it is with unfeigned re- 
luctance, that I find myself morally compelled to tear 
away the film from the eyes of some of the most respec- 
table of the dissenters, which has been generated by the 
extraordinary conduct and assertions of one of their most 
ardent and indefatigable polemicks. Another word is not 
requisite to imbody the form or designate the writings of 
a. Princeton professor. For a long time, the}' have inun- 
dated the length and breadth of the land. No works, on 
the subject of the ministry, have been more perseveringly 
circulated ; none have so largely contributed to perpetuate 
the reign of schism, with its accompanying evils. The 
motives of the professor, it is not my design to impugn. 
They are best known to his Maker. It is desirable, that 
they should be remitted to the sole ordeal of his own in- 
ternal monitor. 

My only controversy is with his publications. In them 
I sink the man ; and from them I propose to pluck the 
banner of victory, proffered to my grasp, by the hands of 
the author himself. Not that I deem it necessary to wade 
through his numerous volumes. After what has been al- 
ready composed by me, especially in the former work, it 
would be only to present the same argument, in a far more 
ungracious form. My object will consequently be re- 



SERMON XXI. 



269 



stricted to the compass of a few brief pages. No more 
will be requisite to vindicate the cause of truth, on the 
one hand, and to disabuse the pub lick mind on the other. 

Never shall I forget the glow of honest indignation, 
which mantled the cheek of a celebrated medical professor, 
when, having read the strong animadversions of Bowden, 
he first compared the quotations, made by doctor Miller 
from the works of Ignatius, with the translation of Wake, 
professedly used by him. If there was before a shadow 
of doubt to cross his inquiring mind, this effectually oblit- 
erated all traces of its existence. Quotations, intended to 
crush the episcopal claims, beneath the pressure of an im- 
moveable weight, were found upon examination to be so 
strangely mutilated, contorted, and distorted, that they 
produced precisely the reverse of what they were design- 
ed to effect. To adopt the words of the reader himself : 
" The result of the whole investigation, after six weeks 
close inquiry, was a thorough conviction of the truth of 
the doctrine, that presbyterian ordination is unauthorized 
by scripture, and therefore entirely invalid." 

It was a case, in some respects, more remarkable than 
that of president Cutler and his friends. Doctor Cooke 
45 had heard that the church denied the validity of presby- 
terian ordination,but had never thought it worth while to 
inquire into a claim, at first sight apparently so extrava- 
gant." To my knowledge, he had regarded it with inef- 
fable disdain, refusing, in the most decided manner, to 
listen to an argument publickly delivered, in its support. 
And yet, when curiosity induced him to glance his eye 
over that very argument, in the printed form, an interest 
was excited, which became more and more absorbing as 
he read, until at length throwing himself entirely upon the 
merits of the controversy, he penetrated deeper and deeper 
into long hidden secrets, only to come forth from the 
labour, perfectly redeemed and disenthralled from the 
bondage of schism. Persecution had no terrours to his 
firm, unyielding mind. It encountered him at every cor- 
ner of the street. In the shape of slander and invective, 
it was borne upon the wings of the wind, throughout the 
immense valley of the west. While prosecuting the in- 
quiry, and before the final step was taken, many of his 
spiritual brethren were accustomed to present the argu- 

23 



270 



SERMON XXI. 



mentum ad hominem, entreating him to pause and reflect 
upon the consequences of the apprehended secession from 
their ranks. Forcibly did they predict, and deeply did 
they profess to lament, the untoward effect it would have 
upon his medical practice. 

But all would not avail. Truth had more charms, in 
his estimation, than gold; a good conscience than princely 
revenues. Loudly did he respond to its summons, and 
nobly did he face the storm and the peril which ensued. 
From the elevated position of a saint, he was destined to 
carry the reproach of an apostate, led away by sinister 
motives. From enjoying an enviable reputation as a 
practitioner in the healing art, he became suddenly met- 
amorphosed into an empirick, not to be trusted with the 
administration of a pill ! They, w r ho predicted and la- 
mented, were determined that the fulfilment should not be 
a single moment postponed. All was commotion and cal- 
umny, hostility and frensy. Doctor Cooke had committed 
the unpardonable crime of joining the very church wherein 
the two Wesley s were born, and in whose communion they 
died; and for this, "away with him, crucify him, crucify 
him," was the virtual cry bruited by the lips of hundreds, 
and to the full extent of their power figuratively accom- 
plished. The rest is soon told. The defamers were in 
the end deservedly disgraced for their folly ; while the 
church gained a champion, second to none for the ardour 
with which her cause was espoused, the ability with which 
it was maintained, and the resources freely lavished to 
promote the prosperity of Zion. 

But I forbear. Time will not allow me to enlarge, 
neither will my limits enable me to insert his masterly 
exhibition of professor Miller's talents in the art of quota- 
tion. In a more condensed form, ye must be content to 
receive it at my hands. The original author is Ignatius, 
and the professor's object was to pass him off as good 
presbyterian authority. For this purpose, he takes ad- 
vantage of an illustration almost or quite peculiar to Igna- 
tius, who frequently compares the church militant to the 
church triumphant, when the bishop is supposed to occupy 
the relative station of God the Father, the presbyters that 
of the college of apostles, and the deacons that of Christ 
Jesus, probably because he humbled himself to a lower 



SERMON XXI. 



271 



degree in taking our nature upon him, than angel could, 
by assuming the form and simihtude of a worm. On this 
point, however, it is not necessary to dwell, since we 
have nothing to do with either the aptness or propriety 
of the illustrations. 

1. The first is from the epistle to the Magnesians. " I 
exhort you that ye study to do all things in a divine con- 
cord ; your bishop presiding in the place of God ; your 
presbyters in the place of the council of the apostles ; and 
your deacons, most dear to me, being intrusted with the 
ministry of Jesus Christ." Now then mark the shrewd- 
ness with which the professor converts all this to his pur- 
poses, and, whatever may be his motives, has convinced 
thousands on thousands, that no higher office than that of 
a presbyter was known to the church in the time of Igna- 
tius. He first studiously conceals from the view, or en- 
tirely suppresses all that is said of the bishop, on the one 
hand and the deacons on the other, and then, with some 
additions and alterations, made requisite by his new pro- 
cess of dismemberment, we obtain in the room of the 
middle of the sentence, this admirable specimen of theolo- 
gical tact ; " the presbyters succeed in the place of the 
bench of the apostles." If this be not perversion, what 
is ? If this be fair, what is foul ? 

2. A second passage from Ignatius is in the epistle to 
the Trallians : " In like manner let all reverence the dea- 
cons as Jesus Christ, and the bishop as the Father, and the 
presbyters as the sanhedrim of God and college of the 
apostles. Without these there is no church." In justice 
to the professor, it must be admitted, that he has given the 
first of these sentences entire. But why did he omit the 
last 1 The three orders, contended for by episcopalians, 
are all enumerated by the good old martyr. Why are the 
emphatick words, " without these there is no church," why 
are these suppressed ? Would their insertion have seri- 
ously affected the argument for presbyterianism ? Would 
they have constituted a palpable contradiction to the pro- 
fessor's subsequent declaration, concerning the epistles, " I 
will venture to affirm, that instead of yielding to the cause 
of diocesan episcopacy, that efficient support which is 
imagined, they do not contain a single sentence which can 
be construed in its favour ?" The answer is easily com- 



272 



SERMON XXI. 



passed. Look at the passage itself. No modern episco- 
palian could place the bishop in a loftier station, compared 
with the presbyters. Not one of us could more distinctly 
specify the three orders of bishop, presbyter, and deacon. 
The lexicographer is not to be found, who could more 
positively assert their indispensable necessity, than the 
brief omitted sentence asserts it, " Without these there is 
no church." 

3. To proceed to a third passage from the same epistle ; 
" It is therefore necessary, that as ye do, so without your 
bishop you should do nothing ; also be subject to your 
presbyters, as to the apostles of Jesus Christ our hope ; in 
whom if we walk, we shall b.i found in him. The deacons 
also, as being the ministers of the mysteries of Jesus Christ 
must by all means please all. For they are not the minis- 
ters of meat and drink, but of the church of God." What 
is here said of the deacons will perhaps most satisfactorily 
account for the. relative rank occupied by them in these 
illustrations. It was their peculiar office to distribute the 
eniblematick body and blood of Christ. How easy there- 
fore the transition, which represents them as standing in 
his place, while the presbyters, more addicted to preaching, 
though higher in rank, are characterized as the college of 
apostles. But the passage itself, how does it appear be- 
neath the pruning knife of the professor ? Not a syllable 
is mentioned of the bishop or the deacons. The presby- 
ters occupy the entire field of vision. It dwindles down 
to the dislocated command ; " Be subject to your presby- 
ters as to the apostles of Jesus Christ our hope." And no 
wonder, that by a process, ambidexter as this, episcopacy 
is effectually excluded from the view. The only difficulty 
is, that the Ignatius of the professor is not the Ignatius, who 
was ultimately doomed to glut the appetite of savage 
beasts, within the amphitheatre, at Rome. 

4. The last quotation, I shall present you from this truly 
christian hero, is taken from his epistle to the Smvrneans ; 
" See that ye all follow your bishop, as Jesus Christ, the 
Father ; and the presbytery as the apostles ; and rever- 
ence the deacons as the command of God." And in dis- 
posing of this remarkably definite enumeration of the three 
orders, the professor, I must confess, transcends himself ; 
he outvies all that I have before witnessed in the diplomacy 



SERMON XXI. 



273 



of the ambassadors of Christ. From the first member of 
the sentence, he eviscerates the word, " follow," which is 
forthwith attached to the second, while the third is alto- 
gether dispensed with. In virtue of such anatomy, it is 
not therefore surprising that Ignatius is made to figure on 
the presbyterian side. A skeleton is given, deprived of 
flesh, blood, warmth, animation, and to this the label is 
affixed, " Follow the presbytery as the apostles." But 
suffer me, brethren, to remind you of the apostolick doc- 
trine. " there should be no schism in the body." Sutler 
me to assure you, that while I can conceive of some few, 
who would vehemently applaud the professor's ingenuity, 
my heart acquits every honest man of all intention to rely 
implicitly on his naked authority. 

It is in vain to excuse himself, as has been recently at- 
tempted, by asking the question ; " Is it not literally and 
strictly true, that Ignatius does, in every instance, 'make 
the precise statement which I have alleged ?" All this 
does by no means explain the mutilating process, so freely 
employed. Nor can it be seriously contended by the read- 
er of the preceding quotations, that the professor transfers 
them to his pages in a form, " literally and strictly true." 
In that transfer, there certainly is, however little intended, 
both the " suppressio veri" and the " suggestio falsi." And 
this it is, which the professor has been invited to explain ; 
this it is, which gives such a presbyterian tone and air to 
the fractured passages from Ignatius, as completely eclipses, 
so far as ordinary eyes are concerned, the real meaning he 
designed to convey ; and that the cursory reader would 
rarely detect in the clustered citations which follow, his 
mind being thus thoroughly preoccupied with the apparent 
proof of the author's anti-episcopal declarations. 

Intimately connected with these remarkable specimens 
of dexterity in the use of authorities, the professor has al- 
so been charged with " having made statements, in differ- 
ent publications, altogether inconsistent and irreconcilable, 
concerning the epistles of Ignatius." I will give them at 
large, premising that only the two first have heretofore, 
to my knowledge, attracted the animadversion of others. 

1 . In his letters upon the christian ministry, it is said, 
" The fourth place in the list of apostolick fathers, belongs 
to Ignatius. The epistles, which go under the name of 
23* 



274 



SERMON XXI. 



this venerable christian bishop, have been the subject of 
much controversy. That some copies of them were in- 
terpolated and exceedingly corrupted all learned men now 
agree. And that even the shorter epistles, as published by 
Usher and Vossius, are unworthy of confidence, as the gen- 
uine works of the father, whose name they bear, is the 
opinion of many of theabestand best judges in the protes- 
tant world. But instead of entering into this controversy, 
I will take for granted, that the epistles of Ignatius last 
mentioned, and they alone are now quoted among protes- 
tants, are genuine and worthy of confidence." Suspicion 
you perceive is first thrown upon them, and then argument- 
atively withdrawn, for the purpose of presenting them in 
the presbyterian dress, already submitted to your examina- 
tion. Fifteen years afterwards, the authority of this same 
Ignatius is however required for another object. And 
what is the light in which the last mentioned epistles are 
exhibited, when their genuineness would operate in the 
professor's favour ? 

2. In his letters upon unitarianism, they are thus des- 
cribed ; " The great body of learned men consider the 
smaller epistles of Ignatius as, in the main, the real works 
of the writer whose name they bear." And with the ut- 
most severity has he recently attempted to vindicate him- 
self, from the discrepancy, supposed to exist between this 
and the former statement. With what judgment, the peri- 
odical, in which the vindication appears, must decide. 
Examine it, brethren, and with the examination bear in mind, 
that the professor has entirely overlooked a third published 
opinion, on the same subject, which was probably omitted 
in the publication, on which his pen w T as employed. 

3. In his letters on the eternal sonship of Christ, he al- 
lows himself to say ; " Ignatius also, notwithstanding what 
you have said of him, and of the only passage produced 
from him, I must still think both a competent, and decisive 
witness, on the subject under consideration. I do not admit, 
that the most learned and able of the criticks reject as spu- 
rious the seven shorter epistles of this father, which alone 
are now quoted." Admitting then, that in relation to the 
two former examples, he has succeeded in making out a 
plausible species of congruity, what would or could he have 
said, if this third avowal had been also arrayed against 



SERMON XXI. 



275 



him ? It contains a sentence as diametrically opposed to 
one of the preceding extracts, as it is possible for human 
sagacity to construct. To prevent all misconception, it 
will be advisable to give them a more local propinquity. 
" That even the shorter epistles, as published by Usher 
and Vossius, are unworthy of confidence, as the genuine 
works of the father, whose name they bear, is the opinion 
of many of the ablest aud best judges in the protestant 
world." — " I do not admit, that the most learned and able 
of the criticks reject as spurious the seven shorter epistles 
of this father, which alone are now quoted." Comment 
is almost superfluous. The forces, called centrifugal and 
centripetal, are not at greater variance 'with each other. 
The qualifying phrase, " in the main," is entirely suppress- 
ed, nor does the existence of the word " many," in the 
slightest degree, relieve the contrast. Inasmuch as both 
are superlatives, he must be a Machiavel in casuistry, who 
can hope to establish a difference, between " the ablest and 
best judges," and " the most learned and able of the crit- 
icks." Even if such a one could be found, his task would 
still remain incomplete. This is the age of anomalies, and a 
prolifick age it is. The professor has published yet anoth- 
er volume ; and hazarded yet another expression of his 
most marvellous judgment. 

4. In his essay on the office of the ruling elder, he tells 
us, " The friends of prelacy have long been in the habit 
of insisting much on these and similar quotations from 
Ignatius, as affording decisive support to their system. 
But I must think that their confidence in this witness has 
not the smallest solid ground." To which is annexed in the 
form of a note, the now requisite antidote to the possibility 
of the father's being construed, as setting forth the ever 
dreaded episcopal hierarchy ; " Intelligent readers are no 
doubt aware, that the genuineness of the epistles of Igna- 
tius has been called in question by a great majority of 
protestant divines, and is not only really but deeply ques- 
tionable. All inquiry, however, on this subject, is waived 
for the present." Yes, and all modification, no less than 
inquiry. The object is changed, and the judgment is sure 
to vibrate in precise accordance with the object. No 
longer are the epistles, first tainted as " unworthy of con- 
fidence ;" then described " as, in the main, the real works 



276 



SERMON XXI. 



of the writer ;" and afterwards sustained by the fact of 
their not being " rejected as spurious,'"' by " the most learn- 
ed and able of the criticks," no longer are they thus rescued 
from the original taint. The object, I repeat, is changed ; 
and in eighteen hundred thirty-one, their " genuineness " 
is represented as " called in question by a great majority of 
protestant divines, and" even the professor himself has 
the confidence to affirm, " is not only really but deeply 
questionable." Not a single favourable syllable here es- 
capes his lips. All is disparagement ; all is really, deeply 
questionable. But in due time the vindication, of which I 
have spoken, appears. And such a vindication, when the 
two last examples are taken into consideration, was never 
before permitted to see the light. It violates all consis- 
tency, and adds a new feature to the already striking con- 
geries of contradictions before us. 

5. In a periodical, entitled, the American presbyterian, 
the professor inquires, " Has your correspondent never 
before known, that many of the most learned protestant 
divines, of different religious denominations, believe, that 
even the shorter epistles of Ignatius have been tampered 
with and interpolated, in respect to the bishop's office, and 
are therefore unworthy of confidence in the episcopal con- 
troversy ; and yet, that those epistles, as we now possess 
them, contain much in relation to other matters, which the 
venerable father really wrote, and which, of course, may 
be regarded as good authority ?" Was there ever such a 
versatile writer as this ? For the first time, it becomes 
all important, in the same breath, to credit Ignatius on the 
one hand and discredit him on the other ; and lo, it is 
done. Forgetting all the decisive things before said, on 
either side of the question, as either side came to be sep- 
arately examined, he boldly replies to the charges against 
him, by the publick avowal of the very principle, he was 
accused of reducing to practice. In the episcopal contro- 
versy, Ignatius is not to be trusted ; the shorter epistles 
have been interpolated in that particular ! In other con- 
troversies, he may be freely used ; the venerable father 
really wrote in relation to other matters, and is good au- 
thority. As much as to say, he is to be believed or disbe- 
lieved, precisely as he can or cannot be made to harmo- 
nize with presbyterian tacticks and presbyterian doctrines. 



SERMON XXI. 



277 



And now, it might be fairly presumed, that the professor 
would be perfectly satisfied with the laurels thus singularly 
entwined around his brow. But no such thing : a more 
extraordinary feat remains to be duly commemorated. 

G. In the last mentioned publication, he offers two au- 
thorities to justify him in making the discrimination in 
question, so as to reject Ignatius in the episcopal contro- 
versy. The first of whom says, " In these epistles, we 
have the three orders of bis Lops, priests, and deacons 
marshalled with unseasonable exactness, and repeated with 
importunate anxiety." While the second pronounces, that 
they " have certainly been interpolated in favour of the 
hierarchy." Even the professor himself demands ; " Is it 
a new or strange thing to represent a writer as unworthy 
of confidence on a particular subject ; while on others, he 
may be freely and respectfully quoted V* Here then, the 
object is to show the spuriousness of those parts of the 
epistles quoted by episcopalians as favouring their cause, 
and that are universally allowed to have that tendency. 
But ere long the professor gets warmly engaged, in justi- 
fying himself from the charge of misrepresenting Ignatius, 
as to these identical passages, alleged to be interpolated. 
And, altogether unmindful of what he had been previously 
endeavouring to establish, never did mariner's compass 
veer about in so unaccountable a manner, as the pen 
held by his lithe, obsequious hand. Hear him, brethren, 
wonder and admire. " The truth is, the more carefully 
and frequently I read the epistles of Ignatius, the more 
deeply am I persuaded, that he is every where describing 
presbyterianism, and not diocesan episcopacy, as the form 
of church order in his day." And forthwith, the bishop, 
presbyter, and deacon of Ignatius are converted into the 
presbyter, lay elder, and deacon of the presbyterian church. 
Marvellous conversion indeed ! Who then, I beg to 
know, made all these interpolations ? Presbyterianism, it 
seems, is the thing interpolated, not diocesan episcopacy. 
Who was the interpolator? No episcopalian could have 
committed such suicide. The professor must be driven 
to concede, that a presbyterian theorist could alone inter- 
polate a presbyterian theory. 

At this stage of the discussion, I am therefore inclined 
to think, that the great majority of your number, brethren, 



278 



SERMON XXI. 



will be compelled to side with me, in questioning the au- 
thority of this truly inexplicable writer. Not that his 
veracity is to be implicated, or his intentions denounced. 
Presbyterianism is the shrine he deems most holy. He 
looks upon every thing with a presbyterian eye. All the 
christian fathers constitute an antique monument, which 
subtends its shadow alone. It is fondly imagined to mo- 
nopolize all the light radiated from those hallowed oracles, 
where its vestige is yet to be printed. He doubtless 
thinks, that its origin was heavenly, and the Almighty its 
architect, Allowance must therefore be made for the 
eccentrick orbit, in which he moves, by beings of a like 
fallible nature. If evil designs always lurk beneath mis- 
taken views, we have all but too much cause to cry out 
with redoubled fervency of spirit, and more frequent in- 
tercession at the throne of grace, " God be merciful to me, 
a sinner." 

It is as an author of unimpeachable authority, that I 
would alone caution you not to place entire confidence in 
the Princeton professor. Or if ye are resolutely deter- 
mined upon another course, allow me to put you in pos- 
session of some of his statements, which verge so closely 
to the doctrine of the episcopal hierarchy, that it will re- 
quire all his veteran skill to extricate him from the awk- 
ward position, of having virtually abandoned the long 
taught presbyterian theory, and undesignedly furnished its 
opponents, with weapons of a far more formidable char- 
acter than he could wish. Be it known, then, that the 
parochial episcopacy of doctor Miller will be found on ex- 
amination, to concede all the elements of that which is 
diocesan. He stumbles at the immense size of our mod- 
ern diocesses. But in other respects, what extraordinary 
admissions solicit your serious and undivided attention. 

Episcopalians contend for three orders in the ministry, 
with distinctive ordination for each order. The lowest is 
that of deacons ; the second of presbyters or elders ; the 
highest of bishops or apostles. The names however are 
considered immaterial compared with the corresponding 
offices. Now then for the professor's " primitive or paro- 
chial episcopacy." PI as it one order and one ordination 
alone, or three orders and three ordinations ? We shall 
see. 



SERMON XXI. 



279 



1 . In the vindication, after admitting that Ignatius " of- 
ten speaks of bishops, presbyters, and deacons," and assert- 
ing that " he represents the presbyters as succeeding in the 
place of the apostles ;" which is far from correct, " suc- 
ceeding in the place" being very different from the rela- 
tive position occupied in a mere illustration ; after this, 
doctor Miller asks the question : " But does he not 
speak also of bishops, as distinct officers, and as occupying 
in each church, a higher place than the presbyters or el- 
ders, whom he represents as associated with the bishop, in 
the superintendence of each congregation V To which the 
reply is made, " He certainly does." Bear in mind then, 
brethren, the professor's prior concession, " I am persuaded 
that he is every where describing presbyterianism, and not 
diocesan episcopacy," which necessarily precludes him 
from renewing the cry of interpolation ; bear this in mind : 
And what is the result ? We have, first, the three orders 
of bishops, presbyters, and deacons, clearly acknowledged as 
presbyterianism or parochial episcopacy. And secondly, 
it is agreed, that the same system is described, when the 
bishop is represented to have " a higher place than the 
presbyters." So far therefore we are manifestly upon 
episcopal ground ; especially as the bishop of Ignatius is 
the only officer of the three enumerated by him, to whom 
modern presbyterianism ascribes the power of ordination. 

2. In his essay upon the office of a ruling elder, the pro- 
fessor introduces the following argument ; " That ruling el- 
ders, besides being regularly chosen to office, should be or- 
dained ; that is, publickly and solemnly designated and in- 
troduced to office by appropriate formalities, our ecclesias- 
tical constitution requires, and prescribes a form for the 
purpose, concerning which I shall only say, that, as far as 
it goes, it is well devised, impressive, and excellent. I say 
as far as it goes, for it has been for many years, my settled 
conviction, that the ordination service in question, in not 
making the imposition of hands a stated constituent part of 
it, is chargeable with an omission, which, though not essen- 
tial, and, therefore, not a matter for which it is proper to 
interrupt the peace of the church, yet appears to me inca- 
pable of a satisfactory defence ; and which it is my earnest 
hope may not much longer continue to be, as I know it is 
with many, matter of serious lamentation." In this argu- 



280 



SERMON XXI, 



ment, we are consequently advised of the lamentable fact, 
that a serious deviation from the right way exists in the 
professor's church ; " not essential" indeed ! that would be 
to nullify the whole concern ! but " incapable of a satisfac- 
tory defence." And what is this serious deviation 1 The 
absence of that very imposition of hands in ordination, 
which is inseparable from the act of making a presbyter or 
elder in the episcopal church. So that we are evidently 
presented with our second order, by a separate ordination 
from the first, and upon the professor's own principles, not 
qualifying the ordained to confer the priesthood upon 
others. 

I am aware, that he will insist, that after all, the officer 
he describes, is only a lay elder. But be it remembered, 
he is an ordained elder or presbyter, the very order for 
which we contend ; and that the question concerning the 
duties pertaining to an office is very different from that, 
which is limited to the existence of the office itself. He 
may affirm of such elders, that they are lay, but, supposing 
the ordination to be valid, we maintain, that it creates a 
clerical presbyter. Even doctor Miller himself, in relation 
to the presbyters of Ignatius, has not the courage to pro- 
nounce the whole of them, positively ruling elders, in his 
sense. Even he is forced to adopt the doubly guarded 
language, " most of them, if not all, probably were." It 
would besides subject him to the difficulty of making the 
scripturally described elders of Ephesus, lay elders ; and 
more to be admired, it would require him to confess, that 
lay elders had so usurped ungranted powers, that, long be- 
fore the time of the presbyter Jerome, they formed a 
much larger company of preachers, than the parochial 
bishops themselves. According to this, it would not be 
the ancient bishops who usurped dominion over presby- 
ters ; it would be the lay elders, who, forgetful of their lay 
character, encroached upon the bishop's prerogative. 

But, to help you out of the labyrynth, in which this 'sin- 
gularly incautious writer has involved the entire party ; it 
is time, brethren, to advertise you, that the office of a lay 
elder is the merest fantasy imaginable. It is strangely ex- 
tracted out of these words ; " Let the elders that rule well 
be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who 
labour in the word and docffine." All elders then were 



SERMON XXI, 



rulers ; and such as ruled well and preached faithfully 
were to be doubly honoured. But as to any official dis- 
tinction of elders, one being a lay ruler and the other a 
clerical ruler, not one symptom of this is visible. Your 
own renowned Campbell of Aberdeen is compelled to ad- 
mit ; " The distinction is too considerable between a pas- 
tor and a lay elder, as it is called, to be invariably con- 
founded under one common name." " And a dubious, not 
to say a forced, exposition of a single passage of scripture, 
is rather too small a circumstance, whereon to found a dis- 
tinction of so great consequence." And what is the testi- 
mony of Baxter, on this invention of the presbyterians ? 
" I disliked their order of lay elders, who had no ordina- 
tion, or power to preach, or to administer sacraments ; 
for though I grant that lay elders, or the chief of the peo- 
ple, were often employed to express the people's consent, 
and preserve their liberties ; yet these were no church 
officers at all, nor had any charge of private oversight of 
the flocks/' Nay, what is the unqualified decision of one of 
your most distinguished American divines, the late doctor 
Wilson of Philadelphia ? " Every effort to discover even 
the existence of lay elders, or of any inferiour grade of 
presbyters has totally failed ; neither has there been found 
a single word of such a diversity, nor the idea of such an 
officer, in any church. If such a class of men had existed 
in the apostolick churches, it could not have escaped de- 
tection. If the scriptures had been understood, by the 
apostles and evangelists, to warrant it, the grade must 
have existed and would certainly have appeared. The 
conclusion is consequently undeniable, that those, who find 
lay presbyters in the new testament, have made a discove- 
ry of that, of which the inspired men, who wrote it, never 
entertained an idea." The second episcopal order of a 
presbyter is therefore indelibly fastened upon doctor Mil- 
ler's concession, by the glosses of his own theologians. 

3. In the same essay of the professor, it is written; 
" Every scriptural precedent is worthy of serious regard. 
The office of a deacon was evidently brought into the 
church by inspired men. And although it is not contend- 
ed, that it is essential to an organized church to have offi- 
cers of this class, inasmuch as the church, undoubtedly, 
did without them, for a short time, after its first organiza- 

24 



282 



SERMON XXI. 



tion ; yet as the office is an institution of infinite wisdom, 
and necessary to a full array of all the offices, which be- 
long to the visible church, it seems expedient to retain it, in 
all cases in which it is possible." Ay, brethren, it is only 
expedient, not essential, to retain an institution of infinite 
wisdom. Why ? Because the church for a short time 
did without it. What reasoning is this 1 If it be good ; 
What essential need is there of the presbyter bishop or 
elder, ordained still later ? Surely the writer is wonder- 
fully perplexed by these acknowledged deficiencies of his 
church. He nevertheless eventually proceeds to the con- 
fession ; " Deacons ought to be ordained by the imposition 
of hands. In this ordination, the hands of the pastor and 
of the eldership ought to be laid on. I know not the 
shadow of a reason why this solemnity should be omitted. 
The venerable doctor Dwight, in his system of theology, 
when treating of this office of deacons, unequivocally de- 
clares his conviction, that the laying on of hands ought 
always to be employed in setting them apart ; and pro- 
nounces the omission of it to be incapable, so far as he 
knows, of any defence. The disregard of scriptural ex- 
ample is as painful as it is obvious and unquestionable." 

So much then for presbyterianism : Its warmest advo- 
cate deplores its rejection of the very ordained deacon, 
whose office is the third and lowest in our priesthood. If 
all this does not virtually make him an episcopalian in 
theory, what would ? He agrees to all the three orders 
and the three ordinations. His ordained deacon must 
be reordained to become a ruling presbyter, and the same 
ceremony must be a third time repeated, to make the last 
equal to the bishop of Ignatius. In short, the professor has 
written too many books, or his memory has become too 
treacherous to be trusted. 

May Almighty God, of his infinite mercy, bless this 
brief exposure to the entire overthrow of all unscriptural 
doctrines and systems, subverting the reign and the power 
of godliness. It was Shakespeare, who penned the truly 
graphick rebuke ; 

" Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well, 
"When our deep plots do fail : This should teach us, 
"There's a divinity that shapes our ends, 
*' Rough-hew them how we will." 



SERMON XXI. 



283 



And a greater than Shakespeare, who put it into the 
heart of Gamaliel to address this noble remonstrance to 
those who took counsel to slay the holy apostles ; " I say 
unto you, refrain from these men, and let them alone ; for 
if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to 
naught ; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it, lest 
haply ye be found even to fight against God." Amen. 



SERMON XXIL 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

FOR ZIOn's SAKE WILL I NOT HOLD MY PEACE, AND FOR 

Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETH. 

No person can have read the gospel of Christ to a val- 
uable purpose, without first perceiving and then acting 
upon the principle, contained in the memorable rebuke of 
its author, in the case of a too ardent and impetuous disci- 
ple. Judas came, with a great multitude armed with 
swords and staves, to betray his Lord and Master into 
the hands of wicked men. " And behold, one of them 
which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew 
his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest, and 
smote off his ear. Then said Jesus unto him, Put up 
again thy sword into his place ; for all they that take the 
sword shall perish with the sword." 

The moral it is impossible to mistake. If Jesus, the 
mild, the merciful, and the good ; he, who perfectly com- 
prehended the truth of his own doctrines, and the purity 
of his own motives, in proclaiming them in the ears of 
dying men ; who was equally well apprized of the false 
divinity of his enemies and of the malicious spirit, with 
which they sought to slay him, if Jesus would not suffer 
truth and holiness to be propagated, falsehood and malig- 
nity to be crushed in the bud, by an appeal to arms and 
violence, much less have his followers the colour of an apolo- 
gy to erect the standard of the cross, and cause it to float 
over all nations, awed to the belief of its doctrines, by ar- 
guments addressed to the lacerated flesh and bleeding 
veins. I utterly scorn and repel ail such efforts to domi- 
neer over the free born mind and enslave the struggling 



SERMON XXII. 



285 



conscience. I am for persuading men by the terrour of 
the Lord. This is legitimate, this is moral, force ; such 
force as Jesus employed, and that the institutions and 
principles of the church alone recognise, in the grand 
contest between vice and virtue, religion and irreligion. 
All other compulsion we abjure. It is tyrannical in theo- 
ry, and diabolical in practice. 

And yet, how many, many individuals there are, who 
have been deterred from transferring their affections to 
the episcopal church, in virtue of, I know not how many, 
exaggerated statements of remote persecutions, and an 
existing anti-republican or aristocratick spirit. To repeat 
all these calumnies would be a superfluous, not to say an 
endless, task. Even in those cases, where the exaggera- 
tion has some foundation in truth, it is not my design to 
justify a resort to religious coercion of human origin. I 
rather denounce it all, root and branch, no matter where 
it is conceived, or from what quarter it reveals its iron 
fangs ; a protestant is no better than a Roman fagot ; an 
episcopal than a presbyterian, infliction of the pains and pen- 
alties of martyrdom. What I object to is the free use of 
these ad captandum arguments, with the insidious design 
of irritating the passions and stifling the spirit of investiga- 
tion. What I now propose is to give you some few speci- 
mens of methods, once highly applauded in the dissenting 
school, with the avowed object of spreading the knowledge 
of the truth, and putting a period to the existence of false- 
hood and heresy. 

Not that I would so imitate the example of more subtle 
disputants, as to make modern dissenters responsible for 
the outrages committed by their misguided ancestors. 
No such folly or injustice is mine. All protestants have 
long since concurred, in removing the punishment of death 
from the calendar of spiritual crime ; while the auto da fe 
of the papists is either entirely abolished or seldom con- 
summated. All that I desire to accomplish will be effect- 
ed, by showing you the exceeding folly of raising the cry 
of persecution, founded upon atrocities of by-gone years, 
when these were the common fault of the age, and were 
inhumanly perpetrated by all parties, as they respectively 
obtained the ascendency. The instances to be selected 
will be few in number, though decisive in character, 

24* 



288 



SERMON XXII. 



The only influence, I wish them to produce, is this ; an 
utter aversion to all such management of debatable 
questions in divinity, as shall lead away the mind from 
the actual merits of either side, in order to secure its judg- 
ment, through the medium of topicks entirely extraneous 
and irrelevant. 

The burning of Servetus, and the decapitation of Gruet, 
under the moral, though not the executive, auspices of 
Calvin, have been too often related to require the repeti- 
tion of those melancholy instances of religious insanity. 
I prefer to put to silence the spirit of envenomed contro-. 
versy, by transcribing at large the account, given by the 
puritan historian, Neal, of the most high-handed attempt 
ever made in a protestant country, to outrage the con- 
sciences of men, and subject them one and all to the pres- 
byterian standard. It was not the contrivance of few ; it 
was the deliberate counsel of many. It was not the 
hasty conception of rash fanaticks ; it was the mature 
and solemn judgment of the leading presbyterians in Eng- 
land, the magnates of the sect. It was not im bodied in 
resolutions, passed in some provincial or national synod, 
of conventional authority and inoperative effect ; it was 
drawn out and enacted by the high court of parliament, 
in all the omnipotency of their legislative prerogative, and 
all the ferocity of him, whose laws were said to be written 
in blood. 

This is the narrative of your own warm and uncom- 
promising advocate ; u To return to the parliament, which 
was now recruited with such presbyterian members as 
had absconded or deserted their stations, while the army 
was quartered in the neighbourhood of the city. These 
gentlemen, finding they had the superiority in the house, 
resumed their courage, and took the opportunity of dis- 
covering their principles and spirit, in passing such a 
law against hereticks, as is hardly to be parallelled among 
protestants. It had been laid aside by the influence of the 
army for above nine months, till May first, when it was 
voted that all ordinances concerning church government 
referred to committees be brought in and debated, and 
that the ordinance concerning blasphemy and heresy be 
now determined, which was done accordingly. This was 
one of the most shocking laws I have met with, in re- 



SERMON XXII. 



287 



straint of religious liberty, and shows that the governing 
presbyterians would have made a terrible use of their 
power, had they been supported by the sword of the civil 
magistrate. The ordinance is dated May second, sixteen 
hundred and forty-eight, and ordains, ' That all persons 
who shall willingly maintain, publish, or defend, by 
preaching or writing, the following heresies with obsti- 
nacy, shall, upon complaint and proof by the oaths of two 
witnesses before two justices of the peace, or confession 
of the party, be committed to prison, without bail or main- 
prise, till the next gaol delivery ; and in case the indict- 
ment shall then be found, and the party upon his trial 
shall not abjure his said errour, and his defence and main- 
tenance of the same, he shall suffer the pains of death, as 
in case of felony, without benefit of clergy ; and if he re- 
cant or abjure, he shall remain in prison till he find sure- 
ties, that he will not maintain the said heresies or errours 
any more ; but if he relapse and is convicted, a second 
time, he shall suffer death as before. The heresies or 
errours are these following : 1 . That there is no God. 
2. That the Father is not omnipresent, omniscient, al- 
mighty, eternal, and perfectly holy. 3. That the Father 
is not God, that the Son is not God, that the Holy Ghost 
is not God, or that these three are not one eternal God ; 
or that Christ is not equal with the Father. 4. The de- 
nial of the manhood of Christ, or that the godhead and 
manhood are distinct natures ; or that the humanity of 
Christ is pure and unspotted of all sin. 5. The maintain- 
ing that Christ did not die, nor rise again, nor ascend 
into heaven bodily. 6. The denying that the death of 
Christ is meritorious on the behalf of believers ; or that 
Jesus Chxist is the Son of God. 7. The denying that the 
holy scriptures of the old and new testament are the 
word of God. 8. The denying of the resurrection of the 
dead and a future judgment.' 

" The ordinance proceeds to specify some other errours 
of less demerit, and says, ' That whosoever shall main- 
tain or defend them, shall, upon conviction by the oaths of 
two witnesses, or by his own confession before two justices 
of the peace, be ordered to renounce the said errour or er- 
rours, in the publick congregation of the parish from 
whence the complaint comes, or where the offence was 



288 



SERMON XXII. 



committed ; and in case of refusal he shall be committed 
to prison, till he find sureties, that he shall not publish or 
maintain the said err our or errours any more. The er- 
rours are the following: 1. That all men shall be saved. 

2. That man by nature hath free will to turn to God. 

3. That God may be worshipped in or by pictures or 
images. 4. That the soul dies with the body, or after 
death goes neither to heaven nor hell, but to purgatory. 

5. That the soul of man sleeps, when the body is dead. 

6. That the revelations or workings of the Spirit are a rule 
of faith or christian life, though diverse from or contrary 
to the written word of God. 7. That man is bound to 
believe no more than by his reason he can comprehend. 
8. That the moral law contained in the ten command- 
ments is no rule of the christian life. 9. That a believer 
need not repent, or pray for pardon of sin. 10. That the 
two sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper are not 
ordinances commanded by the word of God. 11. That 
the baptism of infants is unlawful and void, and that such 
persons ought to be baptized again. 12. That the obser- 
vation of the Lord's day, as enjoined by the ordinances 
and laws of this realm, is not according or is contrary to 
the word of God. 13. That it is not lawful to join in 
publick or family prayer, or to teach children to pray. 
14. That the churches of England are no true churches 
nor their ministers and ordinances true ministers and or- 
dinances ; or that the church government by presbyters 
is unchristian and unlawful. 15. That magistracy or the 
power of the civil magistrate, by law established in Eng- 
land, is unlawful. 1 6. That all use of arms, though for 
the publick defence, and be the cause never so just, is 
unlawful.' 

" This black list of heresies was taken from the speeches 
or writings of the papists, arminians, antinomians, arians, 
baptists, and quakers, et cetera, of those times. The or- 
dinance was a comprehensive engine of cruelty, and would 
have tortured great numbers of good christians, and good 
subjects. The presbyterians of the present, age are not 
only thankful, that the confusion of the times did not per- 
mit their predecessors to put this law into execution, but 
wish also that it could be blotted out of the records of 
time, as it is impossible to brand it with the censure equal 
to its demerits." 



SERMON XXII. 



289 



Such, then, brethren, is the memorable account given by 
Neal of some of your ancestors, including a charitable 
remark in favour of the presbyterians of his own time. 
The opinions, denounced by the parliament, were many of 
them errours of a highly aggravated character ; but I will 
do the existing race of presbyterians the justice to believe, 
that they would severely reprobate a similar outrageous 
mode of consigning them to the tender mercies of a penal 
statute. A more odious and infamous specimen of 
christian legislation was never seen. It would doom to 
an ignominious death a large proportion of the population 
of these United States. It would incarcerate such 
multitudes of the residue, that a sufficient number of 
jailers could with difficulty be found to make fast the bars, 
and propel the bolts, of millions upon millions of dun- 
geons. Inveterate atheists, deists, unitarians, disbelievers 
in the atonement, non-resurrectionists, with some others, 
would expiate their heresies by the sacrifice of life. Re- 
cusant universalists, free-willers, Romanists, antinomians, 
rationalists, perfectionists, shakers, quakers, baptists, dis- 
believers in the Lord's day, episcopalians, arminians, metho- 
dists, pseudo-presbyterians, all in short, save presbyterians 
of the ultra Calvinistick school, would be adjudged derelict 
concerning the true faith, guilty of damnable heresies, and 
worthy of durance, perpetual and vile. 

No wonder that ye recoil in horrour and amazement 
from the bare thought of such enactments. Ye would 
doubtless wage interminable war against them. It would 
be the grossest of aspersions to criminate you on their ac- 
count. I have only brought them forward as historick 
facts ; as evidence of what presbyterians could do at the 
sole period, when they wielded the supreme power in 
England. And do they not show, that the system has 
been prostituted to the worst of tyranny ? Do they not 
clearly evince, that it can trample upon the sacred liberty 
of the conscience, and adjust itself, with as much facility 
as any other regimen, to measures of a sanguinary spirit 
and despotick sway ? Do they not exhibit incontestable 
proof of the absurdity of avoiding the merits of episco- 
pacy, by charging persecution upon its votaries of departed 
centuries, when every intolerant act can be matched and 
more than matched, by the bloodiest sentence of religious 



290 



SERMON XXII. 



proscription, imprisonment and death, which pollutes the 
annals of the protestant faith ? It were idle to pause for 
a replv. The throbbing pulse of conscience conveys it to 
every heart. In the case of the woman taken in adultery, 
Jesus effectually silenced the clamour of her accusers, with 
the severe reprimand; "He that is without sin among 
you, let him first cast a stone at her." 

But it is possible, that transatlantic k records may not 
exert the powerful moral impetus, which would be given, 
could it be proved that the genius of persecution had mi- 
grated to our western world, and upon the soil of the pil- 
grims, so deeply imprinted its footsteps, that a deluge of 
waters would not efface the route of madness and of blood. 
Often has panegyrick been copiously lavished on them, 
because of the christian heroism and magnanimity, with 
which they relinquished the dear land of their nativity, to 
erect an altar in the howling wilderness, where they might 
worship God, exempt from the supervision of others, and 
in the undisturbed exercise of that liberty, wherewith 
Christ had made them free. But vain has been every effort 
of mine to discover, in their conduct, any thing like the 
tolerant principles, implied in this voluntary exile from 
their youthful home, and that still continue the annual 
theme of encomiastick prose and verse. It may be treason 
to whisper this ; but I am very sure it is not treason against 
the truth to deny, that their views of toleration were anal- 
ogous to those, which prevail in this more enlightened age. 

Their landing upon the rock, at Plymouth, was effected, 
in sixteen hundred twenty. And short indeed was the 
period, in which they deemed it advisable to be tender of 
each others religious rights and privileges. Within eight 
swiftly revolving years, they were flagrantly invaded, by 
governour Endicott of the congregational church, at Sa- 
lem. Among the settlers there, " Two of the company, 
John Brown and Samuel Brown, one a lawyer, the other 
a merchant, both men of good estates, and of the first pa- 
tentees and of the council, were dissatisfied. They did not 
like, that the common prayer and service of the church of 
England should be wholly laid aside ; and therefore drew 
off, with as many as were of their sentiments, from the 
rest, and set up a separate society. This offended the 
governour, who caused the two members of his council to 



SERMON XXII. 



291 



be brought before him, and judging that this practice, to- 
gether with some speeches they had uttered, tended to se- 
dition, he sent them back to England. The heads of the 
party being removed, the opposition ceased." To speak of 
such men as the apostles of spiritual freedom would there* 
fore be as palpable a misnomer as was ever pronounced. 
If they could not brook, they could practise, persecution ! 
Their own banishment was self inflicted, that which they 
inflicted on others was compulsory ! 

And to this succeeded close imprisonment in the com- 
mon gaols of the country and confiscation of property. 
The sectarian spirit could not be repressed within its ori- 
ginal bounds. It soon brought forth swarms of fanaticks, 
and these must be subjected to the discipline of the solitary 
cell and fretting chain. Hutchinson furnishes us with the 
following example ; " In sixteen hundred and forty-three, 
Samuel Gorton, a familist, by sentence of court, ordered 
to be confined to Charlestown, there to be kept at work 
and to wear such bolts and irons as might hinder his escape : 
And if he broke his confinement, or by speech, or writing 
published or maintained any of the blasphemous, abomina- 
ble heresies, wherewith he had been charged by the gen- 
eral court, or should reproach or reprove the churches of 
our Lord Jesus Christ in these united colonies, or the civil 
government, et cetera, that upon conviction thereof upon 
trial by a jury, he should suffer death." Of other familists, 
his friends, it is said, " The rest were confined to different 
towns, one in a town, and upon the same conditions with 
Gorton : Their cattle were seized and ordered to be sold." 

Nor were banishment and duress the only punishments 
to which they resorted. At a very early period, they 
went beside themselves, they utterly lost their reason, in a 
most senseless and barbarous crusade against demonology 
or witchcraft. Many were the victims of this preposter- 
ous charge. The most innocent women, who happened 
to be guilty of the triple crime of age, eccentricity and pov- 
erty, were forthwith condemned, as witches, to the forfeit- 
ure of their lives. Old men, as wizards, were involved in 
the same disastrous fate. Even one of their clergy fell into 
the toil spread for his overthrow, and died under the hands 
of the common executioner. According to the same au- 
thor, " The first instance I find of any person executed for 



292 



SERMON XXII. 



witchcraft was in June, sixteen hundred and forty-eight. 
Margaret Jones of Charlestown was indicted for a witch, 
found guilty and executed." " Ann Hibbins was tried, 
condemned, and executed for the same offence, in sixteen 
hundred and fifty-five." 

About this time, the quakers also became the objects of 
a cruel and unrelenting persecution. Both men and wo- 
men of inoffensive lives, in relation to their fellow mortals, 
were judicially tried and sentenced to be flogged, as if this 
were the appropriate remedy for their disordered intellects. 
To make the punishment still more degrading and ignomini- 
ous, the poor wretches were even stripped to the waist, fast- 
ened to the end of a cart, and publickly flogged through the 
streets of Boston. Between the years, sixteen hundred fifty- 
nine and sixty-one, inclusive, four individuals of the sect, Wil- 
liam Robinson, Marmaduke Stevenson, Mary Dyer, and 
William Leddra, were actualty condemned to the gallows, 
and there shared the fate of the vilest malefactors. 

Unless all this then be toleration, the pilgrims and their 
immediate descendants were not such intrepid champions 
of religious liberty, as the flattering encomiums, so frequent- 
ly gilding the memory of their virtues, would seem to in- 
dicate. To what additional enormities, they would have 
proceeded, provided they had retained the requisite power, 
it is now impossible to determine. All their outrages up- 
on human life, founded on charges of heresy, were at length 
effectually brought to a close, by the royal proclamation. In 
such cases, it prohibited the infliction of death, and to this 
extent the reign of terrour ceased. 

But in other respects, all the usual methods to prevent 
the growth of a different denomination were unhesitatingly 
employed. Open violence was partially renounced for a 
system of operations, the traces of which may still be dis- 
cerned in various directions. Randolph's letter of sixteen 
hundred and eighty-six, to the archbishop of Canterbury, 
will afford a suitable illustration. " I have some time 
since humbly represented unto your grace a necessity of 
having a church built in Boston, to receive those of the 
church of England. We have at present near four hun- 
dred persons, who are daily frequenters of our church, and 
as many more would come over to us, but some being 
tradesmen, and others of mechanick professions, are threat- 



SERMON XXII. 



293 



ened by the congregational men, to be arrested by their 
creditors or to be turned out of their work, if they offer to 
come to our church." 

Another instance, and I have done. It relates to one 
of the most flagrant and unprincipled attacks upon the lib- 
erty of the press which has come under my observation, 
and .that occurred in Boston, as late as seventeen hundred 
and twenty-four. An admirable little treatise against infi- 
delity, still held in universal repute, had been published by 
a worthy citizen. It also included a discourse advocating 
the claims of episcopacy, and something which was ima- 
gined to conflict with the rightful sovereignty of the reign- 
ing monarch. For having the independence to print an 
edition of this really unexceptionable work, John Checkley 
was immediately indicted and brought to trial. But in so 
ingenious and masterly a manner did he conduct the de- 
fence, that even a jury of the opposite faith were staggered 
by his arguments, and, throwing all responsibility upon 
the court, agreed to render what is termed a special ver- 
dict, to this effect ; " The jury find specially, namely : If 
the book entitled, a short and easy method with the deists, 
containing in it a discourse concerning episcopacy, publish- 
ed and many of them sold by the said Checkley be a false 
and scandalous libel : then we find the said Checkley guilty 
of all and every part of the indictment, excepting that sup- 
posed to traduce and draw into dispute, the undoubted 
right and title of our sovereign lord king George, to the 
kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and the territories 
thereto belonging : But if the said book, containing a dis- 
course concerning episcopacy as aforesaid, be not a false 
and scandalous libel, then we find him not guilty." 

The consequence was, that while they fully acquitted 
him of the seditious part of the charge, to the court was 
remitted the sole power of deciding upon the character of 
the publication itself ; whether in fact an attempt to main- 
tain episcopacy, in preference to Congregationalism, did or 
did not make the defendant guilty, according to the tenour 
of the indictment, upon which he was arraigned. And 
what was this decision ? What glorious triumph was about 
to ensue in favour of the press, that great palladium of 
civil and religious liberty ? Read it, brethren, slowly and 
deliberately read it. And whose heart does not leap with 
25 



294 



SERMON XXII, 



indignation at such judicial perfidy, such detestable sacri- 
fice of the rights of conscience to gratify the lust and per- 
petuate the dominion of a party ? " The court, having 
maturely advised on this special verdict, are of opinion, 
that the said John Checkley is guilty of publishing and 
selling of a false and scandalous libel. It is therefore con- 
sidered by the court, that the said John Checkley shall pay 
a fine of fifty pounds to the king, and enter into a recog- 
nisance in the sum of one hundred pounds, with two sure- 
ties in the sum of fifty pounds each, for his good behaviour 
for six months, and also pay costs of prosecution, standing 
committed until this sentence be performed." 

If this be freedom, what is slavery ? If this be evidence 
of the tenderness with which the tribunals of the country 
regarded the wide field of theology, when predominant 
views were sought to be sustained by recourse to those 
efficient agents of despotick rule, fine and imprisonment, 
what is bigotry and fanaticism, what a bold resolve to out- 
rage right and sanction wrong ? Little more than a cen- 
tury ago, for doing that and less than that, which these 
very discourses are written to effect, and will be published 
the more certainly to accomplish, vindictive measures were 
instituted against an honest and fearless defender of the 
truth ; he was dragged before a corrupt tribunal ; found 
guilty by arbitrary judges ; mulcted in a heavy sum, con- 
sidering his ability to pay ; obliged to give security for his 
future forbearance in relation to a prevailing errour ; and 
condemned to the precincts of a prison, until full compli- 
ance with the unrighteous sentence. 

What folly then, what audacity, must there not be, in 
every clandestine attempt to prejudice the minds of men 
against the true church of Christ, by new editions of the 
old, the threadbare story of persecution ? Admit it to be 
unimpeachable in all its parts, that it was founded upon 
credible specifications, rather than confined to general de- 
clamation, yet does it appear from the preceding rapid sur- 
vey, limited to a few, when many similar, examples were 
spread before my eyes, yet does it appear, that neither 
presbyterians nor congregationalists have the smallest pre- 
tensions to inculpate the church on this account, or to laud 
the toleration of their own ancestors. There is not a fair 
minded man among you, brethren, who will not cordially 



SERMON XXII. 



295 



concur with me, that it is high time to permit all ancient 
feuds and animosities, the excesses of both friends and foes 
of a remote age, to be consigned to merited oblivion, in- 
stead of being artfully revived to kindle into a flame the 
combustible elements of every modern discussion. 1 do 
not dare to chide you for what your fathers did, under ill 
advised convictions of duty. Censure would only be justi- 
fiable, were you to become the apologists of their errour 
on the one hand or its copyers on the other. 

Far be it even from me to implicate the majority of your 
number from some excesses of a more modern date, per- 
petrated under singular insanity of mind, or with the vastly 
more reprehensible motive of deterring future inquirers 
for the truth, by the timely introduction of the rod eccle- 
siastick. I allude to a case occurring, near the close of 
the last century, in the congregational church, at Lee, 
Massachusetts. J. Bradley, one of its members, a man 
of unblemished life and reputation, yielding to none in the 
excellency of his morals or the purity of his religion, was 
actually excommunicated from its pale, for the horrible 
crime of becoming a convert to episcopacy ! In vain did 
he contend for the rights of conscience, of free inquiry, 
and of private judgment. In vain did he solicit friendly 
dismission from a society, with whom he could no longer 
agree on subjects of high importance. Remonstrance and 
entreaty were of no avail. For embracing the church and 
its doctrines, and for nothing else, sentence of excommu- 
nication was pronounced against him. His late brethren, 
though neighbours and friends, were required to shun his 
society ; were prohibited from sitting down at the same 
table, where he was partaking of the bounties of provi- 
dence ; in short, were compelled to demean themselves 
towards an upright, conscientious christian, as though he 
were an outlaw, rightly excluded from all the sympathies 
and the charities of this mortal life. 

And similar was the work of terrour, resorted to, long 
since the present century commenced, at Fairfield, in Ver- 
mont. Within five years, I have myself both seen and 
conversed with one of four individuals, who were at the 
same time excommunicated from the congregational church 
in that town, and subjected to the like privations and in- 
dignities, because they could no longer resist the belief, 



296 



SERMON XXII. 



that the episcopal, was the true, primitive, and apostolick, 
church. Wretched delusion ! At such an age as the 
present, when all men, certainly all claiming to be ministers 
of the gospel, should possess a more enlightened under- 
standing and be actuated by a kindlier spirit ; at such an 
age, to proceed to these extremities, and endeavour to put 
down a rival denomination,' by making it not only odious 
but highly criminal, to enter its sacred enclosure, by with- 
drawing from a prior connexion, this, brethren, ye must 
confess, is the perfection of bigotry and intolerance. I con- 
fidently believe, that the most of you will reprobate it in 
language, much stronger than I have permitted my pen to 
indite. At all events, it should effectually silence the faint- 
est whisper to the prejudice of the church, growing out of 
transactions, the offspring of former centuries. The posi- 
tive cruelty of those times can be looked upon as nothing 
less than superlative, when allowed to figure in our eccle- 
siastical annals. 

Still more unjust and indefensible must be every attempt 
to rouse sectarian feeling, on the subject under review, 
when ye are reminded, brethren, of the recent hostile move- 
ment against episcopacy, on the part of the trustees of a 
literary institution, whose halls of science are adorned with 
the names of Dartmouth, Wentworth, and Thornton, three 
munificent sons of the church, to whom the college was 
eminently indebted for its charter and its incipient funds. 
How little could they have dreamed of the foul act of in- 
gratitude, which we have witnessed ! A clergyman of fair, 
untarnished fame, distinguished in his profession, and of 
ripe attainments, both literary and scientifick; one, remarka- 
ble for the amenity of his temper, the kind and conciliatory 
tone of his intercourse with all classes and descriptions of 
his fellow christians, had many years since committed the 
now common offence of renouncing the invalid congrega- 
tional ministry, in favour of episcopal ordination. After 
his election to the professorship of chymistry, at Dart- 
mouth, this circumstance paved the way to the introduc- 
tion of the church, its worship and its doctrines, in the im- 
mediate vicinity of the college. And though this was ef- 
fected in the most unobtrusive mode imaginable, though 
the measures adopted bordered more upon cautious timidi- 
ty than christian prudence, yet was offence promptly ta- 



SERMON XXII. 



297 



ken and hostility freely indulged. Students began to wan- 
der from consecrated ground. They even dared to look 
into the mooted question of episcopacy. Infinitely worse, 
some of them were quick to discern its truth, and, shaking 
off the trammels of party, were no less eager and explicit in 
proclaiming their conversion. 

It was too much for sectarian patience to endure. Far 
and wide spread the news. It shook the granite state to 
the centre. If the people were indifferent, the clergy were 
in arms. The school of their prophets, the sanctuary of 
their creed, was in imminent danger, and they flew to its 
rescue, not with ponderous tomes of theologick lore or 
more brilliant weapons, from the nobler armory of God's 
most holy word. No, no. They better knew than to 
couch a lance in that dreaded field, where their bravest and 
their best had been often foiled. Their spiritual valour was 
cast in a more prudent mould. According to the testimo- 
ny of the offending professor, the president of the college 
effected an interview, " on purpose to converse with me 
upon the subject of my sunday evening services. He 
commenced by saying, that the trustees were uneasy at 
my holding of these services ; but he referred this un- 
easiness not to any apprehension, that by means of them 
I was neglecting my appropriate duties, but that I was 
doing an injury to the college, by alienating the feelings 
of many of its best friends, who were very much dissat- 
isfied at seeing a division of religious influence here. These 
statements appeared to me extraordinary, and so I told 
him. He then went into an explanation of the matter. 
But a few months before, he had visited the congre- 
gational clergy of the state, at several of their associations, 
for the special purpose of raising funds for the full support of 
a theological professor, and, he remarked, that he was re- 
ceived with a great degree of coldness, and that on account 
of the existence and influence of episcopacy in the college. 
For his own part, he said, he thought little of it, but it was 
very unfavourably regarded by that very class of men, 
upon whom the college most depended for its support." 

Thus then instead of marking the lists or making an 
umpire of the publick, in a somewhat dubious cause ; they 
sought the fountain of authority, they secretly gained the 
ear of power, and so plied their arguments, so vehemently 
25* 



298 



SERMON XXII, 



demanded a sacrifice to be offered on the congregational 
altar, that, to the everlasting shame and disgrace of the 
whole board, the trustees of Dartmouth furnished the vic- 
• tim, imperatively required at their hands. By an intricate 
piece of management, apparently intended to mystify the 
act, they did that collusively, which they had not the cour- 
age openly to avow, and professor Hale, the exemplar]/ 
episcopal clergyman., of whom I have been speaking, was 
unceremoniously deprived of his appointments. 

I understand perfectly well the nature of the strategy 
employed. It was soon penetrated by the eye of publick 
indignation. Where can the dupe be found so thorough- 
ly duped, as not to believe, that the' professor would have 
been spared, if the episcopal banner had been basely 
struck 1 Reply is needless. Explanations have come too 
late. They are more plausible than frank. Every one 
can see, that though the voice be the voice of Jacob, the 
hands were the hands of Esau. Tell me then no more of 
persecution. Here is a case of recent origin and unblush- 
ing effrontery. Few, I admit, were concerned in it. But 
they are among the influential of the land ; and have given 
ample evidence, that if they could dispose of the church, 
with the . ease with which one of her clergy has been sacri- 
ficed, it would soon cease to annoy their fears or obscure 
their hopes. Vain however will be all their efforts. They 
might as well strive to drain the ocean, or endeavour to 
quench the lustre of the orb of day. The Son of man is its 
defender and preserver. It will endure, long as his own 
exhilarating promise endures, " Lo, I am with you alway* 
even unto the end of the world." Amen. 



SERMON XXIII, 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

for zion's sake will i not hold my peace, and for 
Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETII. 

To the charge of persecution, so often and so idly pre- 
ferred against the church, it is very common to superadd 
another, no less calculated to create violent antipathies 
and kindle inflammable passions. Gravely has it been as- 
serted of cur episcopal hierarchy, that it is anti-republican 
in its features, and adapted only to the genius of a monar- 
chical government. The policy of the accusation is easily 
perceived. With too many persons, cant words and 
phrases have infinitely greater charms and are productive 
of far more decisive effects, than sound argument or un- 
questionable facts. Men, whose prejudices cannot b e en- 
listed by the simple, artless exhibition of truth, can be in- 
cited to a paroxysm of rage, by the adroit use of a single 
epithet, no matter how unmeaning and inapplicable, how 
much of calumny it contains, or what frequent proof has 
been given of its falsehood. 

As I apprehend, the religion of Christ has nothing to 
do with the peculiarities of any form of civil government. 
" My kingdom is not of this world," was the express decla- 
ration of its author. And always did he act in perfect 
coincidence with his doctrine. Else would not the Jews 
have prevailed against him. Legions of angels would 
have gained him victories by day. Their invisible shield 
would have been his infallible security, during the watches 
of the darkest night. There is not one charactcristick of 
the true church of Christ, which betrays the slightest in- 



300 



SERMON XXIII. 



congruity with the freest of all free institutions. He came 
not to teach the politicks of a party. His mission was 
undertaken to put us in fuli possession of the more invalu- 
able politicks, whose successful study and practice will lead 
to the enjoyment of a crown, brilliant beyond the power 
of fancy to describe ; the crown that " is incorruptible, and 
undefiied, and that fadeth not away." 

Were it even otherwise, were it actually true, that the 
government of the church was purely monarchical, and not 
republican, I have yet to learn, upon what principle we are 
au thorized to reject a divine institution, owing to the mere 
circumstance of its differing in theory, from the form of 
our national confederation. It is more venerable for its 
age. The wisdom of its framer, it would be impious 
to bring down to a serious comparison with mortal 
intelligence. Its authority it is impossible to overthrow. 
Though we rebel in time, it will prove itself omnipotent 
at the judgment day. But the imputations themselves, 
are utterly unfounded and untrue ; that is, they are 
not true in the sense in which they are designed to 
operate upon the prejudices of the community. We 
have indeed a " King, one Jesus," to whose sceptre 
we bow, and whose word of command we cannot reject. 
Long may he continue to reign in and to rule over 
us. His yoke is easy and his burden light. We prefer 
it to all and every thing, which has been hitherto devised 
by human sagacity, or set in motion by the most thorough 
proficient in the art of winning the popular favour. 
And still, brethren, it is highly pleasing to me, to be able 
to congratulate the most ardent patriot of your number 
upon the fact, which I am bold to affirm, and shall be 
able to prove, that the form of government and the minis- 
try, established in the episcopal church in thesa United 
States, are strictly republican in their character and prin- 
ciples. 

As a preparatory step, in the argument to be submitted, 
permit me to remind you of some circumstances, which do 
not appear to be generally known. If the church were 
really monarchical in its theory or practice, in what man- 
ner are we to account for the strong and enlightened at- 
tachment ever cherished in its behalf, by the man, whom 
Americans will always delight to honour, as the father of 



SERMON XX II I . 301 

his country ? George Washington lived and died an 
episcopalian. A rude sectarian hand has indeed ventured 
to assail the memory of the illustrious dead, and with en- 
venomed pen to associate with it the taint of infidelity. 
No falsehood could be more audacious. He lived at a 
period when there were less verbal pretensions on the 
subject of religion, than have become exceeding fashion- 
able in modern times ; and the consequence is that, in 
his life, we have more of the substance than the parade 
of piety. Still he was an open and avowed follower 
of the Lord of glory. From the lips of a lady of undoubt- 
ed veracity, yet living, and a worthy communicant of the 
church, I received the interesting fact, that, soon after the 
close of the revolutionary war, she saw him partake of 
the consecrated symbols of the body and blood of Christ, 
in Trinity church, in the city of New York. The stigma 
of infidelity, attempted to be fastened upon his character, 
is therefore clearly disproved. It can only be maintained 
by resorting to the still more odious calumny of pronoun- 
cing him a mere formalist and hypocrite ; epithets, which 
the world will never be induced to attach to his pure and 
unsullied name. 

In what manner, then, I repeat, are we to account for 
his attachment to the church, provided episcopacy is 
so evidently anti-republican, and fitted only to harmo- 
nize with the trappings of royalty 1 It would trouble the 
shrewdest casuist to reconcile a paradox, so flagrant and 
glaring as this. It has no consistency, and no foundation 
in truth. The principles of the man and the integrity of 
the patriot forbid it. There is nothing involved in the 
question of church government, as entertained by the 
friends of episcopacy, which renders it incompatible with 
the sternest republican doctrines. Washington was one 
of their warmest advocates ; his political predilections 
were above all suspicion, and Washington was a church- 
man. 

Three other Virginians were also elevated consecutively 
to the office of president of the United States, the first of 
whom was an attendant, at least, upon the worship of the 
church, its minister was his pastor ; and the remaining 
two are known to have been educated in the same com- 
munion. And are they to be denounced as heterodox in 



302 



SERMON XXIII, 



their political faith ? Are they to be traduced as the sup- 
porters of a system, inimical to the constitution of our 
country, and at variance with all other rule than that 
which is absolute and regal ? Certainly, brethren, it 
would be difficult to conceive of more preposterous 
charges. They have not the tenacity of a rope of sand. 
Glass is not more brittle, nor are dreams of a structure 
so entirely false and shadowy. When the merest chi- 
meras of the brain are held in universal repute, then, and 
not till then, will the fantasy be generally credited that 
Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, with an 
innumerable host of distinguished patriots, could counte- 
nance an ecclesiastical regimen, altogether monarchical and 
anti-republican in its tendency. 

True it is, that the church of England is episcopal. 
But it has no sacerdotal connexion whatever with Amer- 
ican episcopacy. Our clergy are not even allowed to 
officiate within its pale ; much less can they become in- 
cumbents of its parishes. On the other hand, the church 
of Scotland, as firmly established by law as that of Eng- 
land, and enjoying the like immunities, is rigidly prcsby- 
terian in its economy. Its clergy find no fault with roy- 
alty. They rejoice in its smiles, and court its patronage, 
with as much freedom and complacency as their English 
brethren. Time and again, have I met with appointments 
precisely similar to this, copied from one of their periodi- 
cals of eighteen hundred and thirty three ; " The king has 
been pleased to present the reverend S. F. Maclaughlan 
to the church and parish of Subzort, in the isle and pres- 
bytery of Say, vacant by the death of the reverend M. 
M ? Leod." Even in England and Ireland, the clergy of 
the same communion have no conscientious scruples what- 
ever, to deter them from receiving their regular stipends 
from the munificence of the British crown. In France 
also, they are equally well affected to regal patronage, 
and condescend to draw their livings from the national 
treasuiy. 

If it be said that all this is not a fair criterion of the 
real principles, embraced by any presbyterians, suffer me 
to remind you of the testimony, before introduced from 
the pages of Dwight. When speaking of the king of 
Prussia, the traveller says ; " He was induced to select or- 



SERMON XXIII. 



son 



thodoxy, and thus to avow himself a supernaturalist, from 
an opinion, which the orthodox universally hold in this 
country, that resistance to a legitimate monarch is a great 
sin in the eye of God. I was not aware, until after my 
arrival in Germany, that any protestant sect existed, that 
still held this doctrine as a part of their creed. During my 
residence here, I have conversed with many of the ortho- 
dox laity, students, divines, and professors ; and I have 
never met with one, and after repeated inquiries have never 
heard of one, who did not make it an article of his faith. 
They have not only contended with me, that we were un- 
justifiable in our resistance to England ; but they carry this 
principle so far, as to condemn the Greeks for their re- ) ,i 
from the Turks. When the success of our revolutionary 
struggle, and the wonderful manner in which heaven has 
blessed us since our independence have been adduced by 
me, as a strong ground for believing that God did not re- 
gard it as an unpardonable sin, they universally replied that 
our cup of iniquity was not yet full, and that a heavy pun- 
ishment was in store for us." By no language of mine, 
could the utter absurdity of criminating others, on political 
grounds, be more successfully exposed. And mere expo- 
sure is the extent of my aim. I scorn to retort. I am 
not driven to such straits in the defence of episcopacy, as 
to be obliged to recriminate upon my presbyterian breth- 
ren in this country, and charge them with being absolutists, 
because the absolute monarch of Prussia is sustained in his 
autocrasy, by the denomination, to which they are so 
warmly attached. It is even mortifying to reply to the 
aspersions themselves ; and nothing, but an anxious desire 
to devest the whole subject of all foreign causes of excite- 
ment and prejudice, could have induced me to embark in 
much of the preceding discussion. 

It is time therefore to advert to yet more authentick 
evidence of the unfounded character of the charges under 
review. If I understand the nature of republican institu- 
tions, the}^ exist wherever the people have the inceptive, 
not the executive, power, in the direction and management 
of publick concerns. They delegate to others the author- 
ity, which they cannot personally exert. As far then as 
such a principle can be transferred to an ecclesiastical 
government, the episcopal church, in this country, adheres 



304 



SERMON XXIII. 



to it with the utmost care, and to a degree seldom rivalled 
and never excelled. To give you some plain illustrations ; 
1. The bishop registers the names of all candidates for 
holy orders ; but he cannot do this, cannot receive them 
as applicants for the ministry, without the written recom- 
mendation of the laity. 2. He ordains to the office of a 
deacon, but prior to that ordination another and similar 
document must be placed in his hands. 3. He advances 
the deacon to the higher order of a presbyter, but here 
again the approbation of the laity must be previously ob- 
tained. 4. Three or more bishops can consecrate a pres- 
byter to the same office with themselves ; but he must first 
be elected to the dignity by the suffrages of the laity, as 
well as of the clergy, of the diocess, over which he is to 
preside : He must also obtain the consent of the general 
convention of the church, or, in the interval of its sittings, 
of a majority of the standing committees of the several 
diocesses : And in all these cases, the laity have their con- 
current and controlling voice. 

Even our ecclesiastical legislation is in perfect conform- 
ity with the will of the people. For this purpose, we 
have a general convention of the protestant episcopal 
church, which assembles every third year, in some central 
position. It is composed, 1. Of the house of bishops. 2. 
Of the house of clerical and lay delegates, there being four 
of each order from every state or diocess. And this con- 
vention it is, which enacts all the canons for the internal 
government of the church. Before a single one can be- 
come obligatory, it must be passed by a majority of these 
two houses. Not only this, whenever the delegation of 
either of the states require it, the house of clerical and lay 
delegates is divided ; that is, the clergy vote by themselves, 
and the laity also in the same manner, when the proposed 
canon must be sustained by a majority of each order, 
voting by states, before it becomes a law. Is there any 
thing more republican than this, in the dissenting conferen- 
ces and associations, synods and general assemblies ? Do 
they legislate upon a system, more closely resembling the 
congress of the United States, constructed in accordance 
with our republican constitution ? One of your denomina- 
tions, I know, does not permit the laity to have any share 
whatever, in its organized deliberations. Even the pastors 



SERMON XXIII. 



305 



of individual congregations are selected, independently of 
the voice of their pastoral charge. And as to the residue, 
I have never discovered the particulars, wherein the form 
of their ecclesiastical jurisprudence surpassed that of the 
church, through a more perfect similitude to our con- 
gressional bodies, and the manner of their proceeding. 

Enough then of an imputation, infinitely more calculated 
to mislead than to enlighten. I am surprised, that contro- 
versialists of the feeblest intellect do not perceive, that all 
such unfounded accusations must eventually operate to the 
serious injury of those, who indulge them. Arguments 
and evidence will be adjudged to be prodigiously sparse 
and unaccommodating, when invective is so constantly 
brought forward to supply their deficiency. I am heartily 
sick of these wretched contrivances to evade the force of 
scriptural and primitive testimony, in favour of the true 
apostolick church ; and the signs are far from dubious, that 
ere long the great body of the people will be thoroughly 
disgusted, rather than entertained, by these melancholy 
exhibitions of a design to parry the Onset and demonstra- 
tions of the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 
by an artful use of the weapons of worldly policy. Though 
all the genuine patriots in the world had been churchmen, 
it would not prove the divine right of episcopacy. And 
still, the attachment of Washington, and a large number of 
his brethren in arms and in council, will guarranty the 
acquittal of the church from the groundless political 
charges, so industriously propagated to the prejudice of 
her communion, and the detriment of the truth as it is in 
Jesus. 

Our next inquiry relates to another and, if possible, a 
yet more worthless display of calumny and detraction. 
It proceeded originally from the Roman mint, and was 
only coined some forty or fifty years after the transaction 
occurred, to which it relates. Before entering upon its 
investigation, I must however do justice to the well in- 
formed among the dissenters, by exonerating them from 
all blame on this account. There is not a man among 
them of any celebrity as an author or a theologian, who 
would dare to hazard his reputation, by advocating the 
veracity of a charge so often and so thoroughly falsified. 
26 



306 



SERMON XXIII* 



It refers to the consecration of Matthew Parker to the 
archiepiscopal see of Canterbury. 

The persecution of the Romanists, during the sangui- 
nary reign of Mary, had consigned some of the protestant 
bishops, as Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley, and others to the 
devouring flames ; and had compelled the remainder to 
seek a refuge from the storm, in foreign countries. There, 
the most of them fell victims to the hardships, they were 
forced to endure. On the death of the bigoted and savage 
queen, when her younger sister, Elisabeth, ascended the 
throne, who was zealously attached to the reformed reli- 
gion, few only of the deposed bishops had survived the 
reign of terrour. They soon returned to England, and, 
much to the chagrin and dismay of the papists, were the 
instruments, in the divine hands, of continuing the apos- 
tolick succession in the bishopricks, recently filled by the 
creatures of Rome. And this explains the long and bitter 
hostility, which has pursued their memory. Had it not 
been for them, the reformation must either have come to 
a stand, or have been conducted according to the presby- 
terian polity. As it was, Parker w T as consecrated by the 
four bishops, William Barlow, John Scorey, Miles Cov- 
erdale, and John Hodgkins ; and through him the legiti- 
mate priesthood has descended to our times. 

To impeach the validity of the act, all manner of false- 
hood and sophistry was had in requisition. It was said 
to have taken place at a tavern, called the nag's-head, from 
the figure upon its sign. But the story is incredible in 
itself, since the queen had full power to open all the churches 
in London, and the protestant clergy were actually filling 
their pulpits. Even if it had been true, nothing worse 
than derision would have been the result ; since the place, 
where ordination is celebrated, however inappropriate, 
can by no means vitiate the authority it conveys. What 
folly then to give it the occasional sanction of a modern 
sneer ! To pick up a stupid papal fabrication, and circu- 
late it among the ignorant, that they may enjoy an alleged 
profanation of holy things, and be still kept groping about 
in the mists of errour ! 

Happy am I, in the reflection, that the dissenters as a 
body, have never disgraced themselves by such gross de- 
ception, Speaking of the new reign and the restoration 



SERMON XXIII. 



307 



under it, your own historian, Neal, is thus candid and 
explicit ; "The sees were left vacant for some time, to see 
if any of the old bishops would conform. But neither 
time nor any thing else could move them. At length, 
after twelve months, doctor Matthew Parker was conse- 
crated archbishop of Canterbury, at Lambeth, by some of 
the bishops that had been deprived in the late reign, for not 
one of the present bishops would officiate. This with 
some other accidents, gave rise to the story of his being 
consecrated at the nag's head tavern in Cheapside, a fable 
that has been sufficiently refuted by our church historians. 
The persons concerned in the consecration were Barlow 
and Scorey, bishops elect of Chichester and Hereford; Miles 
Coverdale, the deprived bishop of Exeter, and Hodgkins, 
suffragan of Bedford." To which, doctor Toulmin, who 
put forth a new edition of Neal, has added the following 
note, in which he severely rebukes an arch-infidel, who 
was no doubt well pleased with the opportunity afforded 
to bring the reformed doctrines of Christianity into con- 
tempt. " Voltaire, though he knew, or, as a liberal writer 
observes, should have known, that this story was refuted 
by the puritans themselves, has yet related it as a fact." 
The conjecture is then hazarded; "It was a calumny, to 
which the custom, of the new ordained bishops furnishing a 
grand dinner or entertainment, gave rise." 

And where is the dissenter, who, after perusing this 
testimony of two of his own divines, will yet have the as- 
surance to propagate a malignant papal device ; will yet 
continue, as has been often done, to represent the entire 
ceremony, as having been performed by drunken bishops 
in the house of drunkenness ? Shame on such scandal ! 
Scandal, no less horrid and unpardonable than would have 
been the orgies, it attempts to palm on the world's creduli- 
ty ! If there be religion in this, I am at a loss to know 
what irreligion is. It reminds me of the no more atrocious 
slander, which w r as visited upon the twelve apostles, when 
they were endued with power from on high by the descent 
of the Holy Ghost, and authorized to exercise their episco- 
pal functions. The spectators " were all amazed, and were 
in doubt, saying one to another, what meaneth this ? Others 
mocking, said, These men are full of new wine." The 
coincidence is indeed remarkable, and may possibly bring 



308 SERMON XXIII. 

many a calumniator to his senses. Among the worthies, 
he hesitates not to brand with the degrading, brutal vice 
of intoxication, was good old father Miles Coverdale, who 
employed the years of his exile at Geneva, in making the 
first English translation of the whole bible, a man of prim- 
itive simplicity in mind and person ; grave in his deport- 
ment ; austere in his habits ; averse to all pomp and pa- 
rade ; of whom it may be safely affirmed, that his conver- 
sation was in heaven. How singular, that he, who first 
clothed the entire language of inspiration in an English 
garb, should participate in the mockery levelled at inspired 
men, and have the same need to be vindicated from the 
same vile aspersion. With whom, brethren, would ye 
prefer to have your lot cast, in the day, when ye shall 
appear at the tribunal of eternal justice ; with the grace- 
less libeller, or the devout and pious christian, so foully 
libelled ? 

But it is not dissenters alone, who have admitted the pu- 
rity of the consecration, on which I am commenting. Ma- 
ny an honest Romanist has done ample justice to the sub- 
ject. Father Courayer wrote a volume, in proof of its 
validity. Peter Walsh pronounces his judgment with a 
noble frankness, never to be too much admired, taking into 
view the enemies he would create, and the jeopardy he must 
endure ; " In that place, where I seem somewhat too 
severe on Matthew Parker, the first protestant archbishop 
of Canterbury under queen Elisabeth, you must not per- 
suade yourself I do at all reflect upon his ordination, as if in- 
deed that had been not only uncanonical or unlawful, but 
really void and null, or, as the schoolmen speak, invalid. 
Were I to deliver my opinion of this matter, or were it 
my purpose to speak thereof, I would certainly hold my- 
self obliged in conscience, for any thing I know yet, to con- 
cur with them who doubt not the ordination of bishops, 
priests, and deacons in the protestant church of England, 
to be at least valid. And yet, I have read all whatever hath 
been to the contrary objected by Roman catholick writers, 
whether against the matter or form, or want of power 
in the first consecraters, by reason of their schism and 
heresy, or of their being deposed formerly from their sees, 
et cetera." And again, " The ordination in the protestant 
church of England is valid, according to the public k doc- 



SERMON XXIII. 



309 



trines of the Roman catholick schools themselves, and the 
ancient rituals of ail the catholick churches, Latin, and 
Greek." 

Nor let me forget the ever to be remembered testimony, 
of doctor Lingard, the highly celebrated author of the his- 
tory of England. In the text of this popular work, he has 
barely noticed Parker's consecration, with the circum- 
stance of his being " obliged to receive that rite from Bar- 
low and Scorey, two bishops who had conformed under Ed- 
ward the sixth." But in a note, he utterly repudiates the 
nag's head figment, and, proceeding to the real transactions, 
in the month of December, fifteen hundred and fifty-nine, 
gives us the following narrative ; " Barlow, Scorey, Cover- 
dale, and Hodgkins, suffragan of Bedford, confirmed the 
election on the ninth, and consecrated Parker on the seven- 
teenth. The ceremony was performed, though with a 
little variation, according to the ordinal of Edward the 
sixth. Two of the consecraters, Barlow and Hodgkins, 
had been ordained bishops according to the Roman ponti- 
fical ; the other two according to the reformed ordinal. Of 
this consecration on the seventeenth of December, there 
can be no doubt : Perhaps in the interval between the re- 
fusal of the catholick prelates, and the performance of the 
ceremony, some meeting may have taken place at the nag's 
head, which gave rise to the story." 

But though the historian was thus superiouxto the spirit 
of misrepresentation and falsehood, it was not to be ex- 
pected, that the mass of his communion would be equally 
upright and ingenuous. Numbers have rather attacked 
him with great severity, for these unwelcome concessions. 
They have contradicted his statements, revived the old and 
exploded fables, and in this way have extracted replica- 
tions from the doctor's more able and experienced pen, 
which place them in a yet more unenviable and discom- 
fited posture. Without inserting the whole of his long 
letter to the editors of the catholick magazine, I must still 
present you with some of the more important particulars. 

Several of the Romanists have had the audacity to pro- 
nounce the register, of the archbishop's consecration at 
Lambeth, to be a forgery of later years. To this it is 
answered ; " Much has been said about Parker's register. 
Perhaps it may be proper to inform your readers, that the 

26* 



310 



SERMON X X I 1 1 . 



archiepiscopa! register is a collection of official documents, 
relative to the appointment of the bishop, and to the gov- 
ernment of his province and diocess, enrolled as matters of 
record by the proper officers of his court ; and that we 
accordingly find in Parker's register, in the due order of 
time, the record of his consecration at Lambeth, in the 
form of a narrative, drawn up by a notary public k, descri- 
bing the whole ceremony, and containing matter sufficient 
to cover two or three of your pages. Now can we be- 
lieve that the author of this document, if it be a fabrica- 
tion, would have ventured on a narrative so very minute 
and prolix, when a short entry, stating the time, the place, 
and the ministers of the consecration, would have equally 
served his purpose ? He must have been aware that the 
addition of every unnecessary line would multiply the fa- 
cilities of detection. But this is not all. He had a mere 
difficult task to execute than the mere forgery of a false doc- 
ument. He had to imitate with accuracy the very hand of 
the officer, who had made the other entries above fifty 
years before ; for the fraud would have been betrayed by 
the least discrepancy in the form of the characters. Yet 
so it is : The entry of the consecration is written in the 
same hand with the rest, ay, even with ink of the very 
same colour and consistency. On the comparison, no dif- 
ference can be discovered. Is it possible to conceive in- 
ternal evidence more complete than this V 

After this, doctor Lingard introduces five other docu- 
mentary proofs to establish the reality of Parkers conse- 
cration, which some of the more desperate Romanists have 
dared to deny. One of them was an act of parliament, 
passed after the ceremony was performed, with the view of 
curing a supposed legal defect of title to the temporalities 
of the metropolitan see. In relation to which, the histo- 
rian expresses himself, in these emphatick terms : " Cecil 
and his colleagues must have been the veriest dolts on the 
face of the earth, if, in order to give an indisputable title 
to the new bishops, they made that title rest, by act of par- 
liament, on a consecration according to the ordinal of Ed- 
ward the sixth, which consecration, they were aware, had 
never taken place." No proof could be more conclusive 
than this. Cecil, lord Burleigh, at that time prime minis- 
ter, was not the man to commit so egregious a blunder. 



SERMON XXIII. 



311 



Not only would the act have been void and the whole na- 
tion grossly insulted ; but detection would have been sure 
to follow ; and with detection, the wonderful folly would be 
revealed of resorting to fiction without an assignable motive, 
when in fact there was nothing to prevent, and every thing 
to secure a real consecration. 

Bearing this in mind, with the additional circumstance, 
that almost half a century had elapsed, before the consecra- 
tion was disputed, or the mendacious story of the tavern 
circulated, and the doctor's able summary must, brethren, 
produce full and entire conviction, wherever candour and 
integrity are held in the estimation, to which they are 
richly entitled. It is in these words, " Now, to this mass 
of evidence from publick records and private documents, 
from a contemporary act of parliament and a contem- 
porary catholick historian, what do your correspondents 
oppose ? They talk of producing unimpeachable wit- 
nesses ; men who lived at the time, and who will depose 
that Parker's consecration never took place ; that this was a 
matter of publick notoriety ; and that, though the new 
bishops were repeatedly challenged to the proof, not one 
of them was hardy enough to accept the challenge. But 
where, I ask, are these testimonies, these defiances, these 
challenges ? They are no where. They never had exist- 
ence, except in the imagination of writers, who, having 
adopted the fable of the nag's head consecration, found 
themselves compelled to adopt other fables, in order to 
bolster up the first, i have travelled through the works of 
these pretended witnesses, through the confutation and the 
detection of Harding; the counterblast and the promptua- 
rium cathoiicum of Stapleton ; the motives of Bristow ; 
and the history of Sanders ; and I affirm, without the fear 
of contradiction from those who have done as much, that 
not one of these writers has ever alluded to the supposed 
consecration at the nag's head ; that not one of them has 
ever denied the alleged consecration of Parker ; and that 
not one of them has ever challenged his adversaries to the 
proof of that consecration.*' The writer then proceeds to 
animadvert on some paltry objections of his catholick 
brethren, soliciting " indulgence for a few moments," to use 
his own words, " whilst I brush these cobwebs away," and 
finally concludes his unanswerable letter, in perfect confi- 



312 



SERMON XX XXI* 



dence of haying borne unexceptionable testimony to the 
truth. " Here I shall take my leave of the subject. Of 
the consecration of Parker, I never entertained a doubt. 
The discussion, however, has led me to the discovery of 
additional proofs, and afforded me the opportunity of 
placing the whole argument before the eyes of your read- 
ers. It will be for them to judge." 

Yes, brethren, for them and for you ! The auth jr, from 
whom I have made these copious extracts, is a Roman di- 
vine still living, of distinguished reputation, and whose his- 
tory of England affords indubitable evidence of his un- 
compromising adherence to the papal supremacy and the 
papal religion. Nothing could more satisfactorily evince 
the legitimate channel, through which is derived our epis- 
copal hierarchy. The writers, to whom he refers in the 
last paragraph, flourished at the very period of the conse- 
cration in question, and their silence upon the controverted 
points evidently shows that they had their origin in a sub- 
sequent age ; that their only basis is to be ascribed to the 
extraordinary tact at romance, to use no harsher epithet, 
in which the polemicks of Rome have never failed to in- 
dulge. I would as soon give ear to the mythology of the 
ancients, or venture the salvation of the soul on the prima- 
ry doctrine of the satanick school, " Ye shall not surelv 
die." 

To the validity of Parkers orders, which both Neal 
and Lingard allow to have been conferred at Lambeth, it 
has been sometimes objected, that Barlow, the consecra- 
ting bishop, could not be proved to have been advanced to 
the episcopal dignity. But this also is a modern subter- 
fuge. All the historians of the time were ignorant of a dis- 
ability, fatal and incredible as this. They never mention 
it. They uniformly speak of him, as one of the protestant 
bishops, deprived of their sees in the reign of Mary. Neal 
confirms the record, and Lingard expressly states, that 
" Barlow and Hodgkins had been ordained bishops accord- 
ing to the Roman pontifical ; the other two according to 
the reformed ordinal." 

It is also said, that he had no jurisdiction in the premi- 
ses, owing to the queen's having expelled him from his 
bishoprick, and his not being in possession of it or any 
other diocess, at the time of the archbishop's consecra- 



SERMON XXIII. 



313 



tion. But though kings and queens may usurp the power, 
and forcibly oust a bishop from the enjoyment of his tem- 
poralities, they have no authority to devest him of his sa- 
cerdotal function. This is indelible. It only ceases when 
he ceases to inhale the vital air. With or without a bish- 
oprick, he can consecrate and ordain to all the orders of 
the priesthood. Paul's diocess was the world ; and should 
the present bishop of London visit Philadelphia, and there 
convey the episcopal office, the person ordained would be 
to all valid intents and purposes a bishop, capable of exert- 
ing his powers when and where he pleased. The only 
difference between him and our bishops would consist in 
this, that his official acts would not be performed in connex- 
ion with the general convention of the protestant episcopal 
church. 

All the bishops, officiating at Parker's consecration, are 
also accused by the Romanists of proceeding in direct con- 
travention or the papal authority. And certainly, if the 
sovereign pontiff be Christ's vicegerent upon the earth, and 
in this respect the fountain of all ecclesiastical power, there 
cannot be a particle of doubt, that the ceremonial was al- 
together invalid and of no effect. But what protestant 
is there to acknowledge the existence of such pre- 
rogative ? If there be a single one, let him take off the 
mask of the reformation, and reconcile himself at once 
to the papal see and its incumbent. If such an ob- 
jection be thought to cancel our orders, much more does it 
vitiate all presbyterian and lay ordinations. No pope ever 
confessed them to be genuine. All Romanists regard them 
as a mere human contrivance. 

In every possible aspect, it would therefore appear, that 
nothing could be more idle and preposterous, on the part of 
the dissenters, than the circulation they occasionally give 
to the nag's head imposture, and its prolifick brood of ab- 
surdities. The exposure, I have submitted, only places 
them so much the more palpably in the wrong. Ye can- 
not, brethren, have the temerity to contend that the story 
has the slightest foundation in truth. Cease then to stum- 
ble at this fabricated obstacle, in the way of your duty. 
Cease from all other obstructions, which debar you from an 
immediate entrance into the Zion of the Lord of Hosts. 
As the apostle says, " I would have you wise unto that 



314 



SERMON XXIII. 



which is good, and simple concerning evil." Cordially 
can I pronounce, in your case, the blessing, with which the 
sanctuary services of the church are concluded : " The 
peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your 
hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and 
of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord : And the blessing of 
God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, 
be amongst you, and remain with you always." Amen. 



SERMON XXIV, 



ISAIAH lxii. I. 

FOR ZION's SAKE WTLL I NOT HOLD MY PEACE, AND FOE 
JERUSALE3l's SAKE I WILL NOT REST, UNTIL THE RIGHT- 
EOUSNESS THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETH. 

Few circumstances probably have been more effectu- 
ally used to the prejudice of episcopacy, than the unbound- 
ed license which has been given to the tongue, in relation 
to the church of England. If the hundredth part of what 
hath been alleged against her were true, no fouler instru- 
ment hath been employed by the powers of darkness to 
rivet their infernal chains around the souls of men. Some 
specimens of this character, I have exhibited in the first 
of these discourses, w T herein, among other things, it is said 
of her hierarchy, that it " properly belongeth to that form 
of church government, whereof the son of perdition, who 
ascended out of the bottomless pit, is head." 

I need not enlarge. This, brethren, is the climax of 
obloquy and invective. Ye cannot be at a loss to con- 
ceive of the minor calumnies, naturally following in the 
train of such transcendental scandal as this. Ask the yeo- 
manry of the country, and the traditions, which they have 
received from their youth up, will be sufficient to per- 
suade you of the strict fidelity of these delineations in 
James ; " The tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly 
evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless w T e God, even 
the Father, and therewith curse we men, which are made 
after the similitude of God." " If any man among you seem 
to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth 
his own heart, this man's religion is vain." 

To narrate all such scandal would be an endless, as 



316 



SERMON XXIV. 



well as an ungracious task. It assumes every proteus 
form and hue, commencing with a sneer, and ending with 
pharisaick scorn and contumely. The crudest preacher 
of the crudest sect is often deemed a paragon of perfec- 
tion, compared with anglo-episcopal stupidity and crime. 
Myriads upon myriads really imagine the church of their 
ancestors to be tricked out in the mere form of godliness, 
and to be entirely destitute of the power thereof. So far 
as they are concerned, utterly in vain have her Cranmers 
died and her Taylors lived. I must however claim from 
you, brethren, the privilege of an incontrovertible reply, 
furnished by your own writers, and to secure brevity, re- 
duced to the shortest possible compass. 

What then was the state of religion in the church of 
England, at the very period, when many are prone to be- 
lieve, that her sanctuaries were defiled with idolatry, and 
the light of truth was entirely extinguished ? I allude to 
the era of the pilgrims. These were men, who had a 
mortal aversion to what the most rigid of their descend- 
ants can now adopt without the slightest scruple. They 
rent the unity of the faith, on account of the mere externals 
of religion ; for such monstrous corruptions as the wear- 
ing of a clerical gown, and the continued use of the organ 
in divine worship. And if these were good and valid 
reasons, what has brought about the modern revolution in 
faith and practice ? Doctor Sprague informs us, in rela- 
tion to E norland : " Most of the dissenting ministers wear 
a gown in the desk, a fact at which I have been rather 
surprised, as they seem to have little complacence in any 
thing else, which bears the semblance of conformity to the 
established church." In our own country, I have no oc- 
casion to put you in remembrance, that the sound of the 
organ is no less gratifying to your own than the episcopal 
congregations. 

But with the exception of minor particulars like these, 
there is abundant evidence that the pilgrims had no such 
objection to the church, in which they were born, as is 
commonly believed. According to Hutchinson, " Whilst 
they remained in England, they continued in the com- 
munion of the church, such of then, excepted, as were ex- 
cluded from it, for nonconformity to some of the ceremo- 
nies." If he is to be credited, episcopacy was far from 



SERMON XXIV. 



317 



being a material objection. " The form of government in 
the church was not a general subject of complaint. They 
were very careful to distinguish themselves from the 
Brownists and other separatists. Had they remained in 
England, and the church been governed with the wisdom 
and moderation of the present day, they would have re- 
mained, to use their own expression, in the bosom of the 
church, where they had received their hopes of salvation." 

And these opinions are fully sustained by the express 
declarations of unimpeachable witnesses. In sixteen hun- 
dred and ninety-five, we have this emphatick testimony 
from increase Mather ; " Had the sees in England, four- 
score years ago, been filled with such archbishops and 
bishops, as those which king William, whom God grant 
long to live and to reign, has preferred to episcopal digni- 
ty, there had never been a New England." It was not, 
therefore, the ecclesiastical government or ministry, which 
seriously oflended the prejudices of the pilgrims. They 
exhausted all their indignation upon some little ceremo- 
nies and practices, which superstition magnified into enor- 
mous grievances. The decent habiliments of the priest- 
hood were metamorphosed into popish garments ; and the 
sign of the cross in baptism constituted a crime scarcely 
inferiour to its adoration, on the part of the most bigoted 
devotee of Rome. 

Still, however, they had the utmost horrour of sep- 
aration. They had not yet learned to make light 
of the guilt of schism. Thomas Hooker stood in the 
foremost rank of their divines, and clearly does he rep- 
robate the idea of yielding, to this fountain of innume- 
rable evils. " To separate from the faithful assemblies and 
churches in England, as no churches, is an errour in judg- 
ment and sin in practice, held and maintained by the Brown- 
ists ; and therefore to communicate with them in their 
opinion or practice is sinful and utterly unlawful ; and care 
should be taken to prevent offence, either by encouraging 
them in their way, or by drawing others to a further ap- 
probation of that way than is meet." No stronger lan- 
guage than this can be used by those, who are now per- 
petually reviled for what are called high church princi- 
ples. In the opinion of this zealous puritan and pilgrim, 
to separate from the faithful church of England, or even 

27 



818 



SERMON XXIV. 



to communicate with separatists, was utterly sinful and 
unlawful. Has the lapse of two centuries changed the 
natuie or lessened the enormity of the crime? If the 
church had been the reverse of evangelical, would Hooker 
have expressed himself in such strong and decided terms ? 

Nor must I omit the testimony of one, whose zeal 
against habits and ceremonies appears in the very quota- 
tion, to which your attention is called. Speaking of some 
of the emigrants, Mather informs us : 4i They set sail from 
the Isle of Wight, about the first of May, sixteen hundred 
and twenty-nine, and when they came to the land's end, 
Mr. Higginson, calling up his children and other passen- 
gers unto the stern of the ship, to take their last sight of 
England, he said ; We will not say as the separatists were 
wont to say, at their leaving of England, farewell Baby- 
lon ! farewell Rome ! But we will say, farewell dear 
England, farewell the church of God in England, and all 
the christian friends there ! We do not go to New Eng- 
land as separatists from the church of England ; though 
we cannot but separate from the corruptions in it. But 
we go to practise the positive part of church reformation, 
and propagate the gospel in America. And so he con- 
cluded with a fervent prayer for the king and church, and 
state in England." Surely, brethren, this is airy thing but 
finding fault with the doctrinal faith or the standard of 
holiness, adhered to by that mystical body of Christ, for 
which he manifested such ardent attachment, and from 
which he would by no means secede. 

On the authority of the same historian, I can even pre- 
sent you with still earlier declarations of a similar import. 
By him, governour Winslow is represented to have said, 
" If any joining to us formerly, either when we lived at 
Leyden in Holland, or since we came to New England, 
have, w T ith the manifestation of their faith and profession 
of holiness, held forth therewith separation from the 
church of England, I have divers times, both in the one 
place and in the other, heard, either Mr. Robinson our pas- 
tor or Mr Brewster our elder, stop them forthwith, show- 
ing them that we required no such thing at their hands ; 
but only to hold forth faith in Christ Jesus, holiness in the 
fear of God, and submission to every ordinance and ap- 
pointment of God." The first of the pilgrims were 



SERMON XXIV. 



319 



therefore bold and uncompromising upon the subject of 
schism. They would not countenance its discussion. 
They recoiled with fear and trembling from the perpetra- 
tion of a crime, which their descendants have lono- since 
ceased to regard, as one of the divine prohibitions ; unless 
it can be applied to arrest the progress of some of their 
own intestine commotions, or to frustrate the attempt to 
establish another denomination, too near the field of their 
own laborers. 

But it may be thought that the preceding authorities are 
not sufficiently explicit, in relation to vital faith and god- 
liness. Allow me then, brethren, to make you acquainted 
with a document, executed while crossing or about to cross 
the Atlantick, in sixteen hundred and thirty ; signed by 
John Winthrop, Richard Saltonstall, and others ; and en- 
titled, " The humble request of his majesty's loyal subjects, 
the governour and the company late gone for New- 
Enoland, to the rest of their brethren, in and of the church 
of England.*' " We desire you would be pleased to take 
notice of the principals and body of our companv, as 
those who esteem it our- honour to call the church of Eng- 
land, from whence we rise, our dear mother, and cannot 
part from our native country, where she specially resi- 
deth, without much sadness of heart and many tears in 
our eyes, ever acknowledging that such hope and part as 
we have obtained in the common salvation, we have re- 
ceived in her bosom and sucked it from her breasts. We 
leave it not therefore, as loathing that milk wherewith we 
were nourished there ; but, blessing God for the parentage 
and education, as members of the same body, shall always 
rejoice in her good, and unfeignedly grieve for any sorrow 
that shall ever betide her, and, while we have breath.sincere- 
ly desire and endeavour the continuance and abundance of 
her welfare, with the enlargement of her bounds in the 
kingdom of Christ Jesus." A more noble testimonv to the 
excellency of the church could not be given. Who, of 
the number now so fond of maligning her character, 
would have suspected the pilgrims of such exalted eulogy ? 
Coming from their pen, it is indeed more valuable than if 
it had been written in letters of gold. Instead of being 
stigmatized as a harlot, she is loved and honoured as their 
spiritual mother. Instead of being cast off in disdain, she 



|£2G SERMON XXIV. 

is parted with in sadness and in tears. Instead of being 
charged with corrupting their minds with abominable 
heresies, it is to the purity of her faith and the soundness 
of her instruction, that they impute their possession of the 
hope of everlasting life. Instead of praying for her down- 
fall or imprecating the vengeance of God on her iniquities, 
they declare their determination to rejoice in her good, 
and their sincere desire to promote the enlargement of her 
bounds. 

With such panegyrick, brethren, I profess myself to be 
perfectly satisfied. It has been selected, when much of 
the same nature, and spreading over a larger tract of 
time, was within my reach, for an obvious reason. In 
many cases it will be listened to as the voice of your an- 
cestors ; the sober and unbiassed judgment of the very 
men who had enjoyed ocular demonstration of the respec- 
tive tendencies of the different religious denominations in 
the old world. They saw your favourite independency 
or Congregationalism, in the spring tide of i Ls being, when 
it is usual to make the greatest professions, and to exhibit 
colours of the brightest hue. But far from being charmed 
with its form or enamoured with its fruits, they opposed it 
with undiminished zeal, long as they continued in the land 
of their birth. They even carried their testimony against 
it to this western world, and infinitely preferred the " dear 
mother," in whose lap they had been nursed, to the way- 
ward progeny of Robert Brown, who himself was at last 
disgusted with his own invention, and glad to return to' the 
bos 3m of the church he had so foolishly renounced. 

Strange however as it may seem, they were soon in- 
duced to forget all their cherished antipathy to schism, and 
embraced the earliest opportunity to verify the predictions 
of their more adventurous brethren. Hutchinson says, 
" The separatists used to boast, that if the old puritans 
were secure of the magistrate's sword, and might go on 
with his good license, they would shake off the prelate's 
yoke, and draw no longer in spiritual communion with all 
the profane in the land. And though they then preached 
and wrote against the separatists, yet if they were in a 
place where they might have their liberty, they would do 
as they did." To which he adds, " The inconveniences 
we suffer under one extreme, it must be allowed, carry us 



SERMON XXIV. 



321 



insensibly into the other. The New England puritans, 
when at full liberty, went the full length which the separa- 
tists did in England. It does not follow, that they would 
have done so, if they had remained in England. Upon 
their removal, they supposed their relation both to the 
civil and ecclesiastical government, except so far as a spe- 
cial reserve was made by their charter, was at an end, and 
that they had right to form such new model of both as best 
pleased them." 

Singular result ! Admirable specimen of moral dialec- 
ticks ! In England, it would have been " sinful and utterly 
unlawful" to have become separatists from the established 
communion, or to have countenanced the independents, 
who went to that extremity. But the moment they cross 
the seas, new relations are supposed to exist, and new doc- 
trines may be freely adopted. What was insufferably 
wrong has become unequivocally right. They have pow- 
er to create the very church they had denounced, rather 
than the one they had honoured and reverenced. They 
can model it as they list, and, as ye have seen, confer upon 
the laity the prerogative of ordaining others to the minis- 
try. Never certainly was there more palpable contradic- 
tion than this. From what page of the bible can it be jus- 
tified ? On what sayings of Jesus or of his apostles, breth- 
ren, will ye endeavour to vindicate the logick of your fa- 
thers? Is there one gospel, one faith, one church for 
England, and others for America ? I pause for a reply. 
I wish to hear a scriptural, not a political, argument, pro- 
ving that while it would have been sinful, that is, contrary 
to the divine command, to separate from the church in the 
old country, it was perfectly regular and unexceptionable, 
within the boundaries of the new. 

In the meantime, allow me to refresh your memory 
with the consequences. All those external rites and cere- 
monies, which so offended the eyes of the pilgrims, and 
which they did not hesitate to brand as corruptions, still 
exist and have always existed in the church of England. 
And yet, all the dangers apprehended from them, and for- 
ever floating before the morbid vision, have never been 
realized. Other communions, as has been largely shown, 
though they were designed to obscure the feeble ray of 
her piety, if a particle of piety were admitted, have been 



g-22 



SERMON XXIV. 



tossed to and fro upon the winds and waves of heresies, 
manifold in number and ultimate in degree. They have 
been one thing to-day, another to-morrow, and nothing 
long. But the church from which they emanated, in a 
vain search for a more perfect way, how nobly has her 
history rebuked their presumption ; how signally has it 
been manifested to all the world, that " the eternal God 
has been her refuge and underneath the everlasting arms." 

In proof, I have not space to record encomiums piled 
upon encomiums, and glittering upon the pages of such as 
have deigned to investigate her claims, before venturing to 
sit in judgment upon them. My limits compel me to leap 
from one extreme of her annals to the other; from pilgrim 
testimony to descend to our own age, and put her adver- 
saries to shame with the proudest eulogy, that ever fell 
from uninspired lips. Hear the confession of an English 
independent, now enjoying the highest reputation : " Those 
whom God honours let us delight to honour. I must pro- 
fess my opinion, that the increase of vital religion in the 
established church, within the last thirty or forty years, 
has been greater than among us. Even as far back as 
seventeen hundred and seventy-six, Mr. G. Burder owns, 
in his diary, that he had found abundantly more of the 
power of God with the evangelical clergymen, it will be 
naturally asked than with whom, than with the dissent- 
ing." 

And who has not heard of Adam Clark, so renowned in 
the method! st connexion, and until his death, a few years 
since, by far the most brilliant light in their spiritual horizon? 
Many, brethren, very many, have undoubtedly paid unre- 
served homage to his learning and piety, who had no con- 
ception, that he could indulge in bursts of applause, so full of 
energy and enthusiasm as these ; " I consider the church of 
England the purest national church in the world. I was 
brought up in its bosom. I was intended for its ministry. 
I have been a methoclist for half a century. I have been 
a preacher for forty -three years. And I am greatly de- 
ceived indeed, if I be not, without any abatement, a thorough 
member of the church of England. Its doctrines and its 
sacraments, which constitute the essence of a church, I 
hold conscientiously as it holds them. I reverence the 
liturgy next to the bible. I proclaim its doctrines and ad- 



SERMON XXIV. 323 

-minister its sacraments, not only in the same spirit in which 
it holds and administers them, but also in the same words 
or form. I also reverence its orders, and highly esteem 
its hierarchy, and have not a particle of a dissenter in me ; 
though I love and esteem all good men and able ministers, 
wherever I find them. But I preach and have long 
preached, without any kind of episcopal orders. My 
family fell into deca}^, and my education was left imper- 
fect. I would greatly have preferred the hands of the 
bishop, but not having gone through the regular courses, I 
could not claim it." 14 Even now, at this age of compara- 
tive decrepitude, I would rejoice to have that ordination, if 
I might, with it, have the full liberty to preach Jesus, wher- 
ever I could find souls perishing for lack of knowledge. I 
believe methodist preachers are best calculated to lead 
those on in the way of life, whom they have been the in- 
struments of bringing into it. But, in all other cases, I 
ever advise, where ye cannot have methodist preaching, 
go to the parish church and no where else. Among our 
dissenting brethren, I am on this account reputed a bigot. 
The methodists as a body are not dissenters, and I trust 
never will be, though we are not episcopaliy ordained, and 
hold places of separate worship, But this has been of 
necessity, not of choice." " We cannot be one body, as 
we now stand, but we can be of one spirit. The church 
has our warm attachment, and if the time should ever 
come, which Dieu ne plaise ! that the bodies of the various 
dissenters were to rise up against the church, the vast 
bodies of methodists would not hesitate to be your 
light infantry. We call you mother church, because our 
founders were clergymen of your church ; and our reli- 
gious principles are those, and those alone, of the church 
of England. Yet show us how we can be more readily 
united, so as not to be prevented from doing the work 
which God has given us to do, and my heart and hand 
shall both be with you," 

The celebrated doctor Chalmers, of the Scotch presby- 
terian church, is the only remaining authority, to which it 
will be necessary to advert, and full, free, and effective is 
the deliberate judgment pronounced by him : " I hold the 
establishment to be not only a great christian good, but one 
indispensable to the upholding of a diffused Christianity 



324 



SERMON XXIV. 



throughout the land. In spite of all the imputations and 

errours which its greatest enemies have laid to its door, 
we hold that on the alternative of its existence, there 
would hang a most fearful odds to the Christianity of Eng- 
land. We are ready to admit, that the working of the 
apparatus might be made greatly more efficient. But we 
must, at the same time, contend, that were it taken down, 
the result would be tantamount to a moral blight on the 
length and breadth of the land. We think it might be 
demonstrated, that were the ministrations of your estab- 
lished church to be done away, they would never be re- 
placed by all the zeal, energy, and talent of private adven- 
turers. Instead of the frequent parish church, the most 
beauteous of all spectacles to a truly christian heart, 
because to him the richest in moral associations, with its 
tower peeping from amidst the verdure of the trees in 
which it is imbosomed, there would be presented, to the 
eye of the traveller, only rare and thinly scattered meet- 
ing-houses. The cities might indeed continue to be sup- 
plied with regular preaching, but innumerable villages and 
hamlets left dependant on a precarious itineracy, would be 
speedily reduced to the condition of a moral waste. Our 
peasants would again become pagans, or, under the name 
and naked form of Christianity, would sink into the blind- 
ness, and brutishness, and sad alienation of paganism." 

Nor only this, although it concedes sufficient to make 
glad the heart of the warmest friend of episcopacy, it 
does not exhaust the good doctor's tribute of praise, and 
thrice happy am I in contributing to give currency to the 
still loftier strain of panegyrick ; " There are many who 
look with an evil eye to the endowments of the English 
church, and to the indolence of her dignitaries. But to 
that church, the theological literature of our nation stands 
indebted for her best acquisitions : And we hold it a re- 
freshing spectacle, at any time, that meager Socinianism 
pours forth a new supply of flippancies and errours, 
when we behold, as we have often done, an armed cham- 
pion come forth in full equipment, from some high and let- 
tered retreat of that noble hierarchy. Nor can we grudge 
her the wealth of all her endowments, when we think, how 
well, under her venerable auspices, the battles of orthodoxy 
have been fought ; that, in this holy warfare, they are her 



SERMON XXIV. 



325 



sons and her scholars, who are ever foremost in the field, 
ready at all times to face the threatened mischief, and by 
the weight of their erudition to overthrow it." 

Higher eulogiums than these, proceeding from higher 
authority, I challenge the world to produce. They are 
not the offspring of some needy parasite, studious of gain, 
and willing to sacrifice every thing to secure tfie golden 
idol. They are not lures, thrown out to attract the smiles 
of power, that preferment may be had, and eventually the 
mitre won. No such venal purposes can be imputed to 
men of their sterling integrity. Free and unbought has 
been their suffrage. More to be desired than the gems of 
India is the rich triad of their applause. How severely 
does it rebuke the pride of the scorner! What dazzling 
lustre does it not radiate upon the bride of Christ ! It puts 
to rest a thousand calumnies. It should cause many a 
boisterous defamer to hide his diminished head. With all 
the wise and good, the true lovers of the gospel, of what- 
soever name or calling, it is a vindication, which envy can- 
not reach nor malignity -annul. 

It is too late to appeal to national prejudices. The em- 
pire of religion has no metes nor bounds ; God " hath 
made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all 
the face of the earth." It will not do to talk disparagingly 
of England and the English. People begin to recollect 
where lie the bones of their ancestors ; whose blood it is 
that courses in their veins ; whose fame is inextricably wo- 
ven with their own ; who hath enjoined upon every chris- 
tian man, " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." It 
is not politicks, that we are discussing. It is not monarchy, 
that we applaud. It is not the union of church and state, 
that we recommend. Concentrate your thoughts, brethren, 
if ye please, upon the memorable fact, that three of your 
own divines have wreathed a garland, not for England and 
the English, but for episcopacy and the church of God, 
the freshness and the verdure of whose leaves, no sun can 
blanch, no lapse of time destroy. This is the ground I 
occupy. If ye are afraid to meet me there, if ye would 
fain avail yourselves of some popular appliances, what 
confidence can ye really have in the justice of your cause? 

But, thanks be to God, the church, wherever she is 
known, needs not to be eulogized by the most exemplary 



326 SERMON XXIV. 

strangers to her fold. The works she hath done are more 
laudatory than words, come from what quarter they may. 
They constitute a triumph indeed. If hrilliant powers of 
intellect and inexhaustible stores of knowledge ; if unan- 
swerable apologies for the truth of divine revelation, and 
overwhelming assaults upon the strong-holds of infidelity ; 
if victorious faith in Jesus, evinced when the world doth 
frown and the instruments of torture do inflict the pangs of 
death ; if untainted orthodoxy of doctrine and unblemish- 
ed holiness of life ; if all these should conspire to wake 
the song of praise, and, with a force unrivalled in numbers 
and in learning, should deserve to bear away its palm, 
then does the church of England, with its branches, soar 
upon the strongest wing and surmount the loftiest pinna- 
cle of fame. 

Look at the long, long list of her champions " against 
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the 
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high 
places," and such names will be revealed as may well enti- 
tle her to be called " a crown of glory in the hand of the 
Lord :" " the perfection of beauty ; the joy of the whole 
earth." In the front rank appear archbishops and bishops, 
the weight of whose learning and piety, no pen can ade- 
quately tell, no wealth of words exaggerate. Of the first 
class, there are Cranmer. Leighton, Magee, Potter, Seeker, 
Tillotson, Usher, and Wake : of the second, Andrews, At- 
terbury, Berkeley, Beveridge, Bull, Burnet, Butler, Cony- 
beare, Cumberland, Hall, Heber, Hoadley, Hopkins, Home, 
Horseley, Hurd, Jebb, Jewell, Latimer, Lowth, Middle- 
ton, Patrick, Pearson, Porteus, Ridlev, Sanderson, Sher- 
lock, Stiilingfleet, Taylor, Tomline, Van Mildert, Walton, 
Warburton, Watson, and Wilson. On the right flank are 
divines, inferiour to these in dignity alone ; Balguy, Bar- 
row, Bingham, Chilling worth, Clarke, Cud worth, Donne, 
Fuller, Hales, Hammond, Hervey, Hickes, Hooker, Jones, 
Jortin, Law, Lightfoot, Mede, Mill, Milner, Newton, Pa- 
ley, Prideaux, Scott, South, Stanhope, Waterland, and 
Whitby. On the left, are marshalled certain worthies 
from the laity, each a host in himself ; Bacon, Boyle, Cole- 
ridge, Hale, Jenyns, Johnson, Jones, Locke, Newton, and 
Wilberforce. 

Are ye satisfied, brethren ? On the slightest intimation 



SERMON XXIV. 



327 



I can treble the catalogue in length, and grace it with addi- 
tional lustre and glory. But here is enough to paralyze 
the censorious tongue of the mere partisan of a rival creed. 
Here is an array of genius and erudition, of piety towards 
God and benevolence in relation to man, visible through 
life, and speaking, though death has done his office, in works 
of matchless celebrity ; here is an array, of which the 
church may well be proud, and, compared with all that 
the world hath ever seen, rejoice to decorate her crown. 
In the whole theological hemisphere, there is no constella- 
tion, brilliant and superb as this. Dazzled by its magnifi- 
cence, the lesser lights of schism pale their brightest rays, 
and the wandering stars of infidelity, entirely vanish from 
the view. Until they can exhibit something like an approx- 
imation to the spiritual riches of its grace and glory, the 
traducers in our country, of the reformed church of Eng- 
land and its kindred, will only strengthen the cause and ac- 
celerate the triumph of episcopacy. 

True it is, that many formalists, many lovers of plea- 
sures more than lovers of God, have rushed with heedless 
temerity into the ministry of the anglican establishment. 
I am no apologist for them ; no advocate for the prostitu- 
tion of that patronage upon the unworthy to the exclusion 
of the worthy, which has in a multitude of instances justly 
extorted the language of censure and reprobation. But 
what sect has not been outraged to a greater or less de- 
gree, by the introduction of pharisees and worldlings into 
the ranks of its clergy ? I know of none. It will never 
do for the most complacent in self adulation to boast of 
such an exemption. Too well is it known, that instances 
of a contrary character have existed to a melancholy ex- 
tent and of an aggravated type in guilt. I disdain to enu- 
merate them. These are not the right kind of arguments, 
with which to prove or disprove the divine right of epis- 
copacy. Had the option been mine, had not necessity 
been ^id upon me to repel many groundless accusations, 
and correct numerous flagrant misrepresentations, gladly 
should I have escaped the pain of composing some of these 
last discourses. As it is, information must be spread ; ir- 
relevant positions and statements must be thoroughly ex- 
posed. 

Even upon the supposition, that all which has, at any 



328 



SERMON XXIV. 



previous time, been falsely imputed to the English church 
were strictly tree ; add to her alleged formality a hundred 
fold ; and many degrees below zero have the audacity to 
rate the spirituality of her faith and worship, with the zeal 
and vitality of her clergy. And what does it prove 1 Af- 
ter the facts disclosed in these sermons, to what result 
does it bring the inquiring mind ? I have no hesitation in 
saying, that it speaks volumes on volumes in favour of the 
institutions and the ordinances of heaven. It so much the 
more clearly establishes the doctrine of Paul to the Corin- 
thians, " Your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, 
but in the power of God." 

Here is presbyterianism on the one hand ; and I will 
not abstract a particle from the fame of its original project- 
ors. It were better policy, to give them credit for infinite- 
ly more than their warmest admirers have had the confi- 
dence to claim ; to make them and their immediate suc- 
cessors scarcely less than rivals in wisdom and sanctity to 
the angelick host. For with all these advantages, these 
nearly superhuman endowments, the birth place of presby- 
terianism has, in process of time, become the grave of reli- 
gion. And if we leave the continent, and re-enter England, 
it must be confessed, that its brightest lights w r ere the first 
on its rolls, the undutiful children w 7 ho were nurtured in 
the pale of the establishment ; and, from that period to this, 
as years rolled on, that it has divided and divided, deterio- 
rated and deteriorated, more and more, until at length, it 
has terminated in one grand nursery of hereticks and her- 
esy. Show me a unitarian or a universalist preacher, and 
I will show you a minister u holding and practising the 
ordination of presbyters. If the system brought into exist- 
ence by such wonderfully pious men has eventuated thus, 
notwithstanding all their piety, what then can be its divine 
sanction or its substantial value ? 

Here on the other hand, is the church of England, so 
rife, as is said, with corruption, so desecrated with ungodly 
bishops and pastors, here is this church, notwithstanding 
such horrid drawbacks and incumbrances, retaining all the 
articles of the reformed faith, as originally composed, and 
at this late day extorting, from the purest of the dissent- 
ers, the praise of unrivalled worth. She and her branches 
are of one mind and one spirit. Not one heretical protest- 



SERMON XXIV. 



329 



ant episcopal church can be found upon the face of the 
habitable globe. How divine then must be the system, 
which, in defiance of all impediments and obstructions, ad- 
mitting them to be of the very worst complexion, which 
in defiance of all this, still exists, as the impregnable bul- 
wark of our religion ; the indestructible " pillar and ground 
of the truth." Choose ye therefore, brethren, this day, 
whom ye will serve. If the church be right, serve God 
in her : If the numerous presbyterian sects, follow them. 
Amen. 



SERMON XXV. 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

for zion's sake will i not hold my peace, and for 
Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETH. 

Haying succeeded in setting forth in order the main 
features of both the direct and indirect argument, proving 
the unchangeableness and perpetuity of the church of 
Christ, which, in a previous volume, had been clearly 
shown to be constituted with a three ordered ministry of 
apostles or bishops, presbyters or elders, and deacons, I 
am now, brethren, obliged to trespass still further upon 
your patience, with some observations, designed to enforce 
the importance of the whole subject debated, and, if prac- 
ticable, to hasten the revival of the reign of primitive 
peace and harmony, primitive unity in faith and practice, 
whether reference be had to the internal spirit or the exter- 
nal forms of religion. 

No christian will hesitate to acknowledge, that the in- 
crease and prosperity of a sect are as nothing compared 
with the salvation of souls. To efTect this should be the 
grand object and the exclusive province of preaching. 
" The Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but 
to save them." " I am come that they might have life and 
that they might have it more abundantly." " God so loved 
the world, that he gave his only begotten Son that whoso- 
ever believeth in him should not perish but have everlast- 
ing life. For God sent not his Son into the world to con- 
demn the world ; but that the w T orld through him might be 
saved " 



SERMON XXV. 



331 



What then is the actual condition of this world, for which 
Jesus lived and died ; whose redemption was purchased 
by his blood, and whose universal voice should proclaim 
him King and Lord of all ? Emphatically may it be said, 
that the larger part lieth dead in trespasses and sins. Su- 
perstition, idolatry, and vice are the predominant charac- 
teristicks of the heathen. Infidelity, heresy, and disobedi- 
ence prevail to an alarming extent, within the boundaries 
of Christendom. What is to put a new face on morals 
and religion, to disperse the clouds of ignorance, and coun- 
teract the still downward tendency of all that dignifies and 
ennobles human nature ? The more assiduous and faithful 
preaching of Christ and him crucified ; the louder and yet 
louder call of the ministers of the gospel upon all men 
every where to repent, to believe, and to obey. By the 
hope of salvation and by the terrour of the Lord, Paul 
persuaded men. What method is to be adopted to make 
this preaching the most practical and effectual 1 The main- 
taining of the way of truth and the holding of the faith, in 
unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness 
of life ; in other words, the publication of the gospel in 
the gospel church. The disciples of Jesus must give up 
division, must belong to his one mystical body, or partial 
will be the discomfiture of the man of sin ; exceedingly 
limited will be the triumphs of the cross. 

On its leading doctrines, there must indeed be no corn- 
promise whatever. An amalgamation which would bring 
all sorts of hereticks into the ministry, within the episcopal 
pale, their views unchanged, their heresies unrenounced, 
I utterly abjure. But with some variations in the mode 
of stating them, numerous christians agree on such topicks 
as these, the being of a God ; the innate depravity and 
lost condition of man ; the inspiration of the scriptures ; 
the divinity and preternatural mission of Christ ; the salva- 
tion of sinners, solely in virtue of his atoning sacrifice, 
merits, and mediation with the Father ; the necessity of 
faith in his name, of repentance, of obedience, of a change 
of nature, wrought by the effectual operations of the Holy 
Spirit in the heart, with a full belief in an everlasting state 
of rewards and punishments. And these are unquestion- 
ably among the noblest columns in the grand edifice of our 
christian economy. In exercising the ministry of the 



332 



SERMON XXV. 



word and sacraments, they are to be constantly and perti- 
naciously explained and defended. Bereft of them, unin- 
fluenced by the inclination to give them plenary force and 
efficacy in the conversion of souls, all preaching would be 
vain ; a spiritual famine would devastate the whole length 
and breadth of the land ; there would be no such thing as 
a migration of spirits from earth to heaven. 

And yet, these considerations do by no means annul the 
obligation of the ministers of Jesus to conform, in all other 
particulars, to the heavenly pattern. If we wish to do 
good, let it not be done after our own fancies ; let it be 
done in humble imitation of the example of the holy men 
of God, whose praise is in the scriptures. In primitive 
times, the church was one and indivisible. They who 
knew the mind of Christ affirmed ; " There is one body 
and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your 
calling." As the spirit of man inhabits one body, so does 
the Spirit of God. Their admonition was ; " Mark them 
which cause divisions and offences, contrary to the doc- 
trine ye have learned, and avoid them." The rebuke they 
addressed to schismaticks, assumes an aspect of this alarm- 
ing import ; ' ; Ye are yet carnal ; for whereas there is 
among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not 
carnal and walk as men ?" 

In primitive times, I find not in the acts or in the epis- 
tles ; I find not in the writings of those fathers, who saw 
Christ in the flesh, and conversed familiarly with the apos- 
tles, I find not an account of a state of things, in the slight- 
est degree analogous to that which exists at present. 
Those apostles, acting in a body, established the first visi- 
ble church or society of believers at Jerusalem, and placed 
it under the authority and episcopacy of James, the brother 
of our Lord. Nor did they afterwards, collectively or in- 
dividually, found a presbyterian church at Antioch, a con- 
gregational church at Rome, a baptist church at Ephesus, 
a methodist church at Corinth, a quaker church at Phila- 
delphia, a universalist church at Laodicea, a unitarian 
church at Athens, with a countless number of distinct 
churches, such as now prevail at Thessalonica, Berea, 
Smyrna, Sardis, Thyatira, Colosse, Philippi, and many other 
cities, which might be enumerated. No, no such thing : 
They rather inculcated unity, concord, peace. And Paul, 



SERMON XXV. 



333 



who was subsequently called to be an apostle, as one out of 
due season, adhered to the same counsel. His inspired de- 
claration was ; " There should be no schism in the body." 

Either then the apostles were wrong, they did not per- 
fectly comprehend the true interests of the Redeemer's 
kingdom ; or else modern christians are wrong ; they 
have unadvisedly sought out many inventions, and, after 
the manner of the Samaritans, separated from the only 
legitimate Israel of God, in order to build up a multitude 
of human churches, contrary to the divine archetype, and 
obnoxious to our Saviour's own premonition; "Every 
kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation ; 
and every city or house divided against itself shall not. 
stand." Between these alternatives, brethren, judge ye 
for yourselves, Between inspired and uninspired prac- 
tices, make up your own minds, for time and for eternity. 
My advice, my determination is to hold fast to the church 
of apostolick institution, to her ministry, her worship, her 
sacraments, with every other scriptural form and usage 
maintained in her communion. 

Far the largest part of the world is still unenlightened 
by its only moral luminary. And on the supposition that 
the original apostles were to reappear, for the purpose of 
converting the heathen to the knowledge of the true God 
and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, what, I demand, 
would be the course adopted by them, the system they 
would deem it advisable to employ ? Would they fashion 
themselves after their former conduct, or be induced to 
avail themselves of the experience ye have had, in new, 
and to them untried developments ? Would they adhere 
to the same church of the gospel, wherein they first pub- 
lished the glad tidings of good, or would they declare 
themselves converts to your imaginary improvements, 
and establish all the numerous sects, called churches, 
which now commend themselves, in a wonderful degree, 
to the consciences of the professed followers of the Lamb ? 
Pause, brethren, I entreat you, and reflect seriously upon 
the manner, in which ye are bound to decide the questions 
before you. If any thing can bring persons to their 
senses, who are deluded with the idea, that the many and 
diversified communions of the existing age are of essential 
benefit to the Redeemer's cause, it must be this plain and 
28* 



334 



SERMON XXV. 



practical appeal to the understanding mind and responsi- 
ble spirit. 

Consider then, that if the apostles, under such cir- 
cumstances, were to pursue their previous course, it 
would be in strict conformity to the directions Jesus 
gave them, when " speaking of the things pertaining to 
the kingdom of God." He was for one church, and they 
would be for one, the same over which he presided as the 
great shepherd and bishop of souls. He said nothing 
about presbyterians, congregationalists, baptists, metho- 
dists, or the other dissenters, and the like silence would 
be preserved by them, unless indeed the rebuke should be 
given, to which reference was made in my prior publica- 
tion ; " Every one of you saith, I am " of Calvin, and I of 
Brown, and I of Munzer, and I of Wesley. " Is Christ 
divided V* He must have known the most eligible mode 
of propagating the religion he came to reveal, and they 
would not venture to claim the honour of discovering a 
more lively and experimental way. He is to be the final 
judge of the quick and the dead, and, whatever might be 
thought of novelty, whether it were judged more or less 
adapted to insure the world's conversion, they would 
not suffer it to escape their observation, that it would be 
better to yield their own opinion than counteract the will 
of the supreme arbiter of their everlasting doom. 

Great difficulties also, brethren, would necessarily at- 
tend the preference on their part, of your ecclesiastical 
polity. Not more than twenty apostles are mentioned in 
the scriptures. Many of you insist, that there were thir- 
teen only, who enjoyed this high dignity. And supposing 
these to be now engaged in evangelizing the pagan 
nations, on your multitudinous system of sects, each indi- 
vidual would be obliged to found some fifteen or twenty 
discordant churches, in order to include the two or three 
hundred, which have contrived to make themselves ac- 
ceptable to the christian world. In what strange incon- 
sistency, therefore, would all this involve the chosen of 
Christ. It would not be enough for the apostles to set up 
severally, some one of the principal religious denominations, 
putting the whole college at irreconcilable variance with 
each other. Not only must John advocate episcopacy, and 
James presbyterianism ; Peter the theological unity of the 



SERMON XXV. 



335 



divine nature, and Thomas a trinity in unity ; Philip, 
everlasting happiness to the righteous only, with the like 
duration of misery to the unrighteous, and Bartholomew, 
the more gratifying doctrine of universal salvation ; Jude, 
the baptism of infants, and Matthew, its limitation to be- 
lievers ; Andrew, the perpetuity of the sacraments, and 
Simon the Canaanite, their eventual disuse ; James, the 
son of Alpheus, baptism by sprinkling, and Matthias 
by immersion ; Paul, the supra, and Barnabas, the sub- 
lapsarian dogma ; Timothy, an unlimited, and Titus 
a limited atonement ; Silas a personal, and Epaphrodi- 
tus, a spiritual reign of Christ upon the earth, for the 
space of a thousand years. But in addition to this, every 
one of the apostles must prepare himself to bring for- 
ward at least twenty different sects, and school his 
conscience to contend earnestly for the faith of as 
many opposing creeds. Instead of the prayer of Christ 
being strictly fulfilled, " Holy Father, keep through thine 
own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may 
be one, as we are ;" instead of such -fulfilment, principles 
must be embraced and carried out, of this nature, divide 
and subdivide : contradict each other and contradict your 
own selves ; create this schism in one place and that in 
another; pronounce justification to be by faith, in the 
morning, and by works,, in the afternoon. So shall " ye 
continue in my word " and be " my disciples indeed ;" " ye 
shall know the truth, and. the truth shall make you free." 

Where then is the sectarian, so entirely void of reason 
as to believe, that were the apostles now conversant with 
men, they would proceed to christianize the heathen on 
this antagonizing plan, rather than confide in the old paths 
wherein they were once divinely trained to go forth con- 
quering and to conquer ? Placed in an attitude, so glaring- 
ly absurd, it is scarcely possible to conceive of a fatuity of 
intellect, excessive and incurable as this. Madmen only 
could subscribe to such madness ; knaves alone to its com- 
ing within the bounds of credibility. It is one thing to 
eulogize disunion and contradiction, when in the revolution 
of ages, they have been gradually introduced ; and anoth- 
er, to ascribe their origin to the instruction of holy men of 
God, who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 
Often does the natural world bring forth monsters, and, in 



336 



SERMON XXV. 



the nursery of schism, their parturition is by no means 
rare. But inspiration is an infallible security against all 
errour. Inspired men could not be left to fasten a medley 
of contradictions upon the divine decree. The church, 
proclaimed by them, whether it were yesterday, to-day, or 
to-morrow, must of necessity be one, even as God himself 
is one. In no form of illustration, could I more clearly 
substantiate the unscriptural character of the dissenting 
churches. If it be conceded, that apostles did not and 
would not organize them, much less should common mor- 
tals proceed, in such daring attempts, to supplant the insti- 
tutions and outshine the wisdom of the infinite. 

As intimately connected with this subject, I find myself, 
brethren, compelled to advert to the existing signs of the 
times, in relation to the calling of the gentiles. One of 
your own missionaries, for many years employed among 
the islands of the Pacifick, and therefore a practical man, 
speaking from personal observation and experience, not 
long since submitted, through the medium of the press, the 
very pertinent and serious inquiry ; " Now, when the 
experiment is making for the conversion of the world, now 
in the very outset of this great enterprise, which the" 
church deems practicable, and feels bound to undertake at 
all events, can you point out the Achan, can any prophet 
on earth tell us the secret of the small success in the con- 
version of souls, attending the preaching of the gospel in 
christian lands, and in the fields of missionary labour ? Oh 
that some one could point out the true cause of the ac- 
knowledged and deplored evil, and how it is to be reme- 
died !" On the part of the very best of authorities, it is 
consequently admitted, that ill success is the distinguishing 
characteristick of modern preaching. Of its truth, not- 
withstanding all the excitement which exists, and all the 
coloured statements which abound, I have not a particle 
of doubt. Nor have I the slightest difficulty in answering 
the question proposed, the smallest hesitation in assigning 
the remedy to be employed. 

Every now and then we hear indeed of the dawn of the 
millennium. Confident calculations are made, predicting 
its arrival within some ten, twenty, or thirty years. But 
though attempted to be sustained by the prophecies of 
Daniel and John, they are, in my estimation, entirely pre- 



SERMON XXV. 



SSI 



posterous and visionary : Nothing actually exists to indi- 
cate so rapid a result. For what is the language of in- 
spiration, disclosing the future auspicious reign of the Re- 
deemer? Consult the psalmist, and he represents the 
Father announcing to the Son; "Ask of me and I shall 
give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the utter- 
most parts of the earth for thy possession." According to 
Isaiah, " The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the 
Lord, as the waters cover the sea." In Daniel, it is writ- 
ten : " The kingdom and dominion, and greatness of the 
kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the 
people of the saints of the Most High." Oar Saviour de- 
clares, that "this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached 
in all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then 
shall the end come." 

And where are the facts to vindicate the near approach 
of this propitious era ? Do ye point me to the existing 
realm of Christendom ? At this moment, and in our own 
territories, the number, who profess to entertain the hope 
of salvation, is small, exceeding small. No christian can 
refuse to -confess Christ before men. And still not the fifth, 
not the tenth, not the twentieth part of the population of 
our country can be prevailed upon to commemorate his 
death and sacrifice upon the cross, at the altar of redeem- 
ing love. Efforts are constantly making to win them over 
to his standard. But the success is evidently partial and 
temporary. It is literally nothing to what it should be. 
Vices of every description, riot through the land, many 
imbue their souls in guilt of the deepest die. Many are 
sunk in almost hopeless ignorance of the first principles 
of the doctrine of Christ. Many think not, care not, half 
so much about them as they do of the recent novel or the 
latest discovery in art or science. Many devote them- 
selves, body and soul, to the ceaseless pursuit of the phan- 
tom, pleasure. Many infinitely prefer to hoard up the 
treasures of this world, rather than those which are laid 
up in heaven. 

And is this a faithful picture of what your own eyes be- 
hold, in one of the brightest portions of the Redeemer's 
kingdom ? Far more melancholy is the prospect, when 
the condition of the entire habitable globe is brought to 
view. At the lowest computation, it contains seven hun- 



338 SERMON XXV. 

dred millions of souls ; of whom, five hundred millions, at 
least, are either totally or practically ignorant of the very 
name of Christ. Can all these then be initiated in his 
faith and ordinances, in the time contemplated? If for 
eighteen centuries, the heathen have been impervious to 
the sound of the gospel, will ten, twenty, or thirty years 
now suffice to convert them ? All things indeed are pos- 
sible with God. He might enlighten their minds and pu- 
rify their hearts, in the course of a single day. But as it 
is, with no miraculous interposition on his part, and left to 
the ordinary channels of his grace, it is manifestly incredi- 
ble, that they are to be evangelized, in the short space of 
time, allotted to intervene, prior to the millennium. 

Dismissing this fashionable mode of mystifying the sub- 
ject, by indulging in flattering though fanciful anticipations, 
I proceed therefore to pronounce disunion among believers 
to be the Achan, causing " the small success in the con- 
version of souls, attending the preaching of the gospel in 
christian lands, and in the fields of missionary labour ;" I 
do not hesitate to insist, that union is the only adequate 
remedy. When the apostles went abroad to publish sal- 
vation in the ears of the gentiles, as ye have heard, they 
were all of one mind, They preached the same doc- 
trines. They instituted the same worship. They minis- 
tered the same ordinances. They established the same 
Zion. There were no catholicks then distinct from pro- 
testants, no presbyterians. There existed not an almost 
endless variety of sects, all claiming infallibility for their 
respective discordant creeds. 

But now, the gospel, with its institutions, is presented 
to the heathen in such different aspects, as materially to 
impair its original power and influence. They perceive a 
wide discrepancy in the instruction delivered to them, in 
relation to both externals and internals. And the effect 
is, and must continue to be, unfavourable. The notes of 
discord chime not with the principles of love and brother- 
ly-kindness, inseparably connected with the gospel of 
peace. To this prominent evil, I am forced to attribute 
the slow progress, attending the otherwise highly meritori- 
ous exertions, which have been made in the missionary de- 
partment. Few, comparatively few, of the pagans have 
cast away their idols, and embraced the truth as it is in 



SERMON XXV. 



339 



Jesus. Even among those few, reformers have already 
appeared, copying our example, organizing new sects, and 
broaching new, strange, and demoralizing doctrines. 

And does this indicate as if their general conversion 
was at hand ? To me, it wears a very different appear- 
ance, an appearance extremely variant from the prophe- 
cies concerning it, to which ye have been referred. I am 
sometimes even tempted to believe, that God manifestly 
frowns upon the labours of his servants, endeavouring to 
spread his gospel, before they can agree among themselves 
what that gospel is. ' Constantly do we hear of the death 
of missionaries. Though ardent, zealous, self denying, 
though apparently admirably calculated to gain the victo- 
ry over sin, they are cut down in the prime of life, before 
they have well learnt the language of the natives around 
them. From their melancholy fate and the trifling ad- 
vantages secured by those who survive, it is indeed but 
too evident, that the period for the predicted moral revolu- 
tion of the heathen has not arrived. It would seem, as if 
the Almighty had determined, that when they became the 
inheritance of his Son, there should be no jarring sounds 
in their unbroken ranks, no jealousies, no strifes, no divis- 
ions, no heresies. At all events, I can now discern scarce- 
ly the faintest millennial feature, in their present wide 
spread paths of ignorance, superstition, and abominable 
idolatries. 

In order then to pave the way for the actual existence 
of the auspicious season, when every man shall know the 
Lord, from the least to the greatest, it is the duty of 
every christian earnestly and perseveringly to pray for the 
speedy return of that golden age of the church, when har- 
mony pervaded the bosoms of its members, and the rela- 
tions of mutual love and charity were maintained in unin- 
terrupted succession. Something wrong prevails at pre- 
sent. Some fatal disease is certainly at work, blighting 
the harvest, and threatening to extinguish the spirit of true 
religion. It needs an antidote. It must obtain an antidote. 
Or else, in vain shall we look for the more extended pros- 
perity of Zion, in vain, expect the nations, which sit in 
darkness and the shadow of death, to crowd around her 
altars ; in vain, anticipate the spiritual descent of the Lord 
from heaven, in all the splendour and magnificence of his 



340 



SERMON XXV. 



regal character. Division is now the order of the day, and 
division must give place to union. 

Such for a long time, has been the deliberate conviction 
of numbers in all the denominations, reputed to be ortho- 
dox. They saw, they deeply deplored the evils surround- 
ing them on every side, in the shape of party feuds and 
animosities. And they attempted a remedy. It was the 
bible society. Round the bible, they fondly hoped and 
prayed, that all true believers would gather with one ac- 
cord, to sustain each other in the holy enterprise of pub- 
lishing it without note or comment, and placing it, in a 
pure, unadulterated state, in the hands of every son 
and daughter of Adam. But no matter for the holiness of 
the design, no matter if the benefits, flowing in the train of 
this popular institution, have been great, confessedly great, 
it has nevertheless failed, eminently failed, in one of its 
loftiest projects. It has not united the hearts of christians. 
They remain separate and distinct as before. Multitudes 
never acquiesced in the plan ; and multitudes, who did, 
have since withdrawn their countenance and support. 
They love the bible. They would favour its circulation. 
But it must be in their own way. They must belong to a 
society, composed of their own communion. 

And this very failure only serves to convince me, that 
all merely human contrivances, however promising and 
plausible, are utterly inadequate to heal the wounds of 
Zion. No, no : If we heartily desire a cure, a supreme 
and sovereign cure, we must not go to the exteriour, we 
must search the interiour of the bible. The onlyphysician 
is there. The only balm of Gilead is there. Its counsel, 
delivered by an apostle, is ; " Now I beseech you, brethren, 
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the 
same thing, and that there be no divisions among you ; but 
that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and 
in the same judgment !" The Corinthians are then denoun 
ced for their contentions ; and, for setting up rival leaders, 
are adjudged to be carnal and to walk as men. 

Yes, brethren, in this severe manner, the apostle repro- 
bated the grand source of all those evils, which deface the 
beauty and destroy the peace of the spiritual body, of 
which Christ is the head. To be carnal is to be destitute 
of the Spirit. To walk as men is to set up the standard of 



SERMON XXV. 



341 



a party, to introduce a kind of theological politicks into re- 
ligion, and pay our homage at the shrine of some illustrious 
name, forgetting all the while, that one is our master, even 
Christ, that he is not divided, and that he alone was cruci- 
fied for us. The remedy is this : Flee divisions : Avoid 
schism : Be perfectly joined together in the same mind 
and in the same judgment. To arrive at this state, under 
the present constitution of the christian church, every 
sensible man must however admit, is utterly impractica- 
ble. Separate communions constitute in themselves, 
divisions. And no matter who yields, no matter who is 
wrong, we must get rid of them ; we must unite, visibly 
unite, or Christianity will not be the religion of the world, 
the heathen will be heathen still. 

Ye perceive, therefore, brethren, the cause of my solici- 
tude in this high concern. I desire to witness some infal- 
lible symptoms, that the time is come, yea, the set time to 
favour Zion. And I feel, that to witness these, the first 
missionary ground to be trodden is the ground, which 
christians now occupy. Before we can go elsewhere to 
any thorough effect, catholick and protestant must be per- 
suaded to compose their differences • episcopalian and 
presbyterian must worship together, must prostrate them- 
selves together before the same table of the Lord. " I 
have learned," says your own doctor Beecher, " that any 
thing which agitates the pub lick mind, and breaks the train 
of serious associations, in or out of the church, is exceed- 
ingly injurious and fatal : Especially the collisions of rival 
denominations, and particularly if the collision has respect 
to ceremonies instead of doctrines " And nothing can be 
more true. Rivals never are friends. Until all rivalry be 
discarded, all visible cause of rivalry, never will the ad- 
monition be rightly observed ; " see that ye fall not out by 
the way." 

But could we all speak the same thing, could we all 
preach the same thing, as we are required to do ; were 
there no external divisions among us, as the scriptures in- 
sist that there should not be, the good tidings of a Saviour 
would soon spread abroad in all lands and through every 
nation. Union at home would effect wonders at a dis- 
tance. Forthwith, the auspicious morn of the long expect- 
ed day of gospel glory would begin to skirt the eastern 
29 



342 



SERMON XXV. 



sky, and throw around the lustre of its reviving beams. 
Fair and more fair would the prospect grow. Brighter 
and brighter suns would rise. The great Jehovah would 
remove the cloud of judgment, he has so long interposed 
between himself and the nations. The light would shine 
with a brilliancy, no longer peculiar to the primitive age. 
Not only would the banners of the cross be wide unfurl- 
ed : They would literally compass sea and land . Ye 
could not point me to a country, where their waving 
should not be seen; to a people, with whom their con- 
quests should not have commenced. 

The isles would behold them, and rejoice. Thronged 
as they have been and are, with innumerable idols, the 
pious work of extermination would be hailed, not in one 
or two, but in all. Sanguinary rites would cease, and 
many a true church of Christ would rear its consecrated 
walls, where the temple of dagon had been levelled to the 
ground. 

Throughout her vast extent of territory, Asia would 
listen with complacency to the gospel trump. There was 
our Saviour born. There he passed the few years of his 
eventful life. And there he died. The land is all his own. 
He bought it with his atoning blood. And too long has it 
delayed to avow him for its Lord. But union, on our 
part, would soon break the spell, which, for so man} r ages, 
has involved it, in worse than Egyptian darkness. It would 
see the morning dawn, and bring on apace the day of 
grace and glory. Thousands and tens of thousands of 
native Asiaticks would become the skilful and faithful her- 
alds of the cross. Such triumphs would await their la- 
bours of love, as could not fail to astonish and delight the 
christian world. 

Nor would it be necessary to mourn, as we now mourn 
for the sable sons of Africa. All round her northern, east- 
ern, and western shores, in the unknown interiour itself, on 
the borders of the desert and by the sources of the Niger 
and the Nile, missionary stations would be established. 
The trade in human flesh would give way to the far nobler 
traffick for human souls. No set of men could be found to 
receive with greater alacrity the precious seed of the in- 
grafted word. In their hearts, it would spring up with 



SERMON XXV. 



343 



amazing facility, and bear fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and 
some a hundred fold. 

Europe too, so perpetually the theatre of war and car- 
nage, would lay down her arms, with her garments rolling 
in blood ; and assuming the peaceful ensigns of Immanuel, 
engage in his spiritual warfare, with renewed strength and 
unexampled renown. Not a few scattered here and there, 
but a swarm of her missionaries would be encamped in the 
four quarters of the globe, and cause the doctrines of the 
gospel to penetrate to remotest lands. More wonderful 
still ! Her Jews, the remnant of that ancient and peculiar 
people, who have so long rejected their Saviour and their 
God ; her Jews would perceive the errour of their ways, 
and embrace him as their Messiah, Prophet, Priest, and 
King. Their hearts would be anxiously turned towards 
Jerusalem, and their longing eyes employed in anticipating 
the re-appearance of that star of Bethlehem, which is ul- 
timately to conduct them to the fold again, and gloriously 
fulfil all the prophetick promises of the scriptures in their 
behalf. 

Here too in this favoured land, the Redeemers welcome 
voice would be heard with more than usual interest, and 
the renovation of hearts spread wider and wider on every 
side. Forsaking kindred ties, domestick happiness, and a 
native home, myriads, not handfuls, would bear the cross 
and its salvation, where they were never known before. 
Among others, our own aborigines would hear and long to 
hear. Finding themselves of the same blood with us, that 
they have immortal souls to save, and yielding up their 
children to be brought up in the nurture and admonition of 
the Lord, they themselves would be anxious to become the 
heirs of glory and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. 

Under such circumstances, brethren, we might and we 
should exclaim, How prosperously are the glad tidings of 
great joy, which shall be to all people, disseminated in their 
hearing ! How prosperously does the Lord Jesus ride 
on in his majesty throughout the earth ! He girds his 
sword upon his thigh, the sword of the Spirit, which is the 
word of God ; and behold, how he triumphs, how the na- 
tions regard him, as anointed with the oil of gladness 
above his fellows ! The gospel, so long a sealed message, 
is now brought to their very doors, and in their own ver- 



2U 



SERMON XXV. 



nacular tongue. It is received with avidity. It is heard 
with enthusiasm. To an immense number of immortal 
souls, it has become the power of God unto salvation. 

Ay, brethren, this would be our language, and these be 
the consequences of union among christians. It would 
constitute a new epoch in the history of man. The inhab- 
itants of the whole earth would stand in awe of the Lord, 
would worship him in the beauty of holiness, would be the 
people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. But at 
present, the signs of the times are not thus magnificently 
ominous. No immediate prognosticks are there to vindi- 
cate the indulgence of such bright presentiments. Here- 
after, it will be otherwise. Hereafter, when another tem- 
per prevails, and christians can coincide in faith and prac- 
tice, can tell what Christianity is, I am fully persuaded, that 
the same Spirit, which originally brooded over the face of 
the waters to bring forth the dry land, will eventual ly 
brood over the entire human family, infusing congenial 
warmth into their hearts, and making them thoroughly 
alive unto God, through Christ. 

Delightful thought ! Inspiring forecaste of the thing that 
shall be ! How does it fill the soul with rapture, and the 
eye of faith with transporting views ! Is not this better 
than division and subdivision ? Is not this more like Christ 
than the confused, disorganized, and sectarian spectacle, 
existing in modern Christendom ? Ye know it is. If har- 
mony be not more advisable than discord, during our resi- 
dence in this weary pilgrimage, what is to denote the hap- 
piness of heaven ? Are there to be sects, and sectarians 
there ? Will the doctrines of optimism bear to be trans- 
ported to its peaceful abodes ? For my own part, I am 
heartily tired of the thousand and one excuses, which men 
have to avoid the obligation of following Christ, in prefer- 
ence to their own wayward inclinations. And therefore, 
brethren, do I urge you to renounce the way of schism, 
and embrace that of unity. It is the first decided step to 
be taken for the purpose of subjugating the heathen to the 
light yoke and the easy burden of Jesus. We must con- 
vert one another and be converted, before we can convert 
them. And this may Almighty God, of his infinite mercy 
and in his own good time, graciously accomplish. May 
his will be our law, and his church our ark. And to him. 



V 



SERMON XXV. 345 

the Father, to the Son and Holy Ghost, three persons and 
one God, shall be ascribed all glory, honour, praise, do- 
minion, and power, world without end, Amen. 



29* 



SERMON XXVI, 



ISAIAH lxii. 1. 

FOR ZION'S SAKE WILL I NOT HOLD MY PEACE, AND FOE 
JERUSALEM^ SAKE I WILL NOT REST, UNTIL THE RIGHT- 
EOUSNESS THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETII. 

Every body seems to be perfectly aware of the invet- 
erate character of bad habits, in relation to the more 
odious breaches of morality and religion. It is conceded, 
that they cannot be shaken off, without a violent effort, 
sustained by right motives, and a resolute, unyielding de- 
termination, by the help of God, to walk in newness of 
life. But when bad habits get to be popular with all 
classes and descriptions of men, yet more difficult becomes 
the process of reform. They are like cancers upon the 
corporeal frame, seldom or never cured. And unlike 
cancers, they gradually lose all their deformity in publick 
estimation. They even claim to rank among the highest 
virtues, and to confer the richest blessings on the human 
family. 

The sin of schism is of this complexion. The time has 
indeed arrived, when bigot and fool are among the least 
opprobrious of the epithets, which are furiously directed 
against the person and character of him, who insists upon 
the necessity of giving up the delectable idol in question, 
and substituting in its room, what would appear to be 
generally regarded as the most horrible of all horrible 
monsters ; I mean christian unity. In our political con- 
cerns, though the country be called the United States, it 
is still imagined that to be disunited or divided into two 
great rival parties at least, is absolutely essential to the 
maintenance of our liberties. In religion, it is infinitely 



SERMON XXVI. 



347 



worse. Though it proceeds from one God, has but one 
head, and lifts up its warning voice in the scriptures, 
against all manner of division, yet have men been fain to 
convert its body, the church, into an immense polypus. 
They have cut it up in all directions. Scientifically have 
they amputated a member here. Unskilfully have they 
torn away a portion there. But no matter for the modus 
operandi, whether it has been adroitly managed or the 
reverse ; no matter for the number of excisions, how fre- 
quent they have been, or to what a multitude of results 
they have arrived ; it is nevertheless zealously maintained, 
that vitality belongs to each individual fragment, just as 
vitality belongs to all the little polypi severed from the 
parent animal. In other words ; It is fondly thought, 
that great advantages redound to society at large, from 
this multiplication of sects, and consequent diversity of 
creeds. 

Already however, brethren, have I shown you its evil 
effects, by appealing to the history of the most reputable 
of your communions, and by exhibiting the still unconvert- 
ed condition of the heathen. Is further proof demanded ? 
Do ye continue of the same mind as before? Are there 
no misgiving thoughts, no fears, lest ye are more influ- 
enced by the love of party than the love of Christ ? A 
scornful reply would be tantamount to the admission, that 
evil habits are as I have described them. To answer in 
the temper and spirit of a serious believer would be to 
adopt the very words of Baxter, so justly celebrated by 
the best of your writers ; " I am more deeply afflicted for 
the disagreements of christians, than I was when I was a 
younger christian. Except the case of the infidel world, 
nothing is so bad and grievous to my thoughts as the case 
of divided churches. And therefore I am more sensible 
of the sinfulness of those prelates and pastors of churches, 
who are the principal cause of these divisions. Oh ! how 
many millions of souls are kept by them in ignorance and 
ungodliness and deluded by faction, as if it were true re- 
ligion ! How is the conversion of infidels hindered by 
them, and Christ and religion heinously dishonoured ! 
The contentions between the Greek church and the Ro- 
man, the papists and the protestants, the Lutherans and 
the Calvinists, have wofully hindered the kingdom of 



348 



SERMON XXVI. 



Christ." Fully coinciding in opinion with this eminent 
man in relation to the effects of division, at this stage of 
the argument, I shall therefore endeavour to enumerate 
some of the more obvious evils, which have hitherto re- 
mained unnoticed. 

1 . It is attended with the breaking up or the weakening 
of established societies of professed believers. Paul con- 
gratulated himself upon the fact, " So have I strived to 
preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I 
should build upon another man's foundation." But to rely 
upon a similar forbearance, at the present time, would be 
the excess of credulity. Constantly is it overlooked and 
violated. Domestick missionary societies are avowedly es- 
tablished for the purpose of overturning what are supposed 
to be the errours of an opposing sect. In the propriety of 
this, all appear to be perfectly agreed, except where en- 
croachments are made on their own particular fold. 
Then indeed the ill effects are quickly discerned, and loud 
are the notes of remonstrance and admonition, which im- 
mediately ensue. They, whose ancestors began with the 
schismatick principle, are now bold and vehement in its 
denunciation. When we of the church, in our turn, at- 
tempt the recovery of the ground which has been lost, 
forgetting their own origin as dissenters from our pale, 
forgetting that they are actually condemning themselves, 
the sectaries deplore division as a sore calamity, and in- 
veigh against it as a crying sin. And they are right. 
Let them carry their doctrine into practice, and they 
would cease to exist. No necessity would there be for 
organizing the church of the scriptures, the pillar and 
ground of the truth, in the room of the churches of men, 
so largely proved to be the strongholds of heresy. The 
neighbours of the secular part of the week would continue 
neighbours on the sabbath day. 'Families would not be 
miserably rent asunder ; the father a congregationalist and 
the mother a presbyterian ; one son a unitarian and another 
a universalist ; this daughter a methodist and that a bap- 
tist. All would be one in spirit and one in faith ; one 
church would hold them, and one pastor guide. 

2. There is also a large pecuniary cost to be taken into 
consideration. In populous cities, sufficient numbers of 
the principal persuasions may usually be found to ensure 



SERMON XXVI 



349 



crowded assemblies. But when many of our little towns 
and villages maintain some two, three, four, or five de- 
nominations, the burden, however, voluntarily assumed or 
endured from the pride of opinion, becomes extremely 
irksome and oppressive. A single commodious edifice 
would be an ample provision for every fifteen hundred or 
two thousand souls. And yet for the lesser number, I 
have known four and five houses of worship to be erected, 
and as many pastors employed. Nor can this be accom- 
plished without, comparatively speaking, an enormous 
expenditure. Though the rich may bear it with ease, it 
deprives many an industrious man of his hard earned pit- 
tance. It often obliges him to be content with thin rai- 
ment, scanty fuel, and the coarsest fare. We frequently 
speak of the tithing svstem of the old country as exceed- 
ingly burdensome. But far more so are the wages of 
dissent. The hundreds legally exacted there, are more 
than trebled by the contributions to which we are morally 
subjected. Thousands on thousands are literally squan- 
dered to sustain the inventions of men, when moderate 
self-taxation would compass all the requirements of the 
gospel, with the additional advantage of continuing us in 
its perpetually . enjoined condition of unity, peace, and con- 
cord. When will men open their eyes to the unquestion- 
able fact, that disunion causes the tax in support of religion 
to be the heaviest of all our imposts, and that union would 
forthwith reduce it to the level of the lightest ? The di- 
vine will could be obe}^ed with slight disbursements ; it is 
disobeyed in connexion with the sacrifice of large revenues, 
which ought to be devoted to the enhancement of the 
general good, both temporal and spiritual. 

3. The gross incompetency of ministers is another evil, 
to which your attention must be directed. I believe it was 
the learned dissenter, Selden, who said, " scrutamini scrip- 
turas." (Search the scriptures.) " These two words have 
undone the world. Because Christ spoke them to his disci- 
ples, therefore we must all, men, women, and children, 
read and interpret the scriptures." He does not mean to 
cast reproach upon their general perusal ; or if he does, 
God forbid ! that any man should countenance the insanity 
of such a project. But the crude and fanciful interpreta- 
tions of ignorance, these certainly should call out the mark- 



350 



SERMON XXVI* 



ed disapprobation of every true friend of Jesus. They 
have brought into existence the minor sects of shakers, 
ranters, sandemanians, dunkers, southcotians, mormonists, 
with a long, long list of equally blind fanaticks. And 
when private individuals have followed up their miserable 
glosses upon the sacred text, by assuming the clerical office, 
or the more enlightened denominations have conferred it 
upon the merest drivellers in biblical knowledge, then in- 
deed we may feel with Selden, that, if the world be not 
undone, the christian part of it is sadly annoyed and dis- 
figured, by all manner of strange conceits and superstitious 
practices. In these United States, there are hundreds of 
preachers, who cannot even read the bible, they undertake 
to expound. The qualification of others is limited to vo- 
ciferation and rant, excitement and passion, incredible tales 
and incoherent exclamations. Sermons have degenerated 
into a disconnected series of anecdote, and pastoral visits 
into convenient vehicles for the retail of gossip. For the 
form of sound words, we have jargon. For the excellen- 
cy of sound doctrine, multitudes are destined to listen to 
the vagaries and the cant of empiricism. All this howev- 
er, brethren, I shall be told, is as deeply lamented by you as 
it can he by me. Unite then in arresting the progress of 
the disease. Let the whole force of competent ministers 
be brought to act in concert, and instead of the great sur- 
plusage existing in particular localities, while others endure 
something worse than a famine of the word, there would 
be an abundant supply of " able ministers of the new tes- 
tament," in every city, town, village, and even hamlet of 
our now spiritually impoverished land. 

4. The spirit of rivalry, necessarily resulting from a 
separation into discordant sects, is also of very serious 
detriment to the cause of religion. It is witnessed in one 
perpetual struggle for the pre-eminence in numbers, wealth, 
and influence. Not that the more vital concerns are en- 
tirely overlooked. They are rather supposed to flourish 
in proportion to the extent of external prosperity. The 
numbering of the people, as doctor Porter sagaciously 
termed it, is one of the most striking features in our present 
ecclesiastical annals. To be enabled to excel in this re- 
spect, every effort is used and every experiment tried. 
Beautiful architecture is the attraction in one case, and 



SERMON XXVI. 



351 



studied plainness is no less an enticement in the other. 
Here oratorical talents are sought for, as an indispensable 
prerequisite for popular favour, and there a multiplicity of 
sendees is exacted : the deficiency of manner is to be 
made up by the additional quantity of matter. Every 
body must have something or other in which to exult, and 
a difference of taste produces different grounds of exulta- 
tion. When a hearer has nothing whereof to boast, he is 
wretched indeed ; he must yield to some one of the many 
specious solicitations, continually addressed to his pride, 
and stray away to another and, as he is warmly assured, a 
better fold ; where he will have better preaching and better 
company ; more intellect, or more spirituality. 

5. Fast following in the train of rivalry, envy comes 
with its malignant fires to rankle in and corrode the heart. 
Talk as we may of brotherly love and sympathy, never 
was there a denomination of christians built up upon the 
ruins of another, without creating the pangs of jealousy in 
numerous bosoms. Prosperity is always delightful, ad- 
versity invariably the reverse. And whenever the former 
is only attained by our fellow beings, at the expense of our 
own downfal, it is more than poor human nature can 
usually bear to pass through the conflict and contemplate 
the sequel, un visited by emotions which it were desirable 
never to experience. The best of christians, in this emer- 
gency, are too apt to be unchristianized ; and the weaker 
professors, they who need the stimulus of the close com- 
pacted throng of worshippers, oh how bitterly do they 
weep over the empty pews, once overflowing with num- 
bers, and now deserted to crown the labours and bloat the 
triumphing of a rival sect. Though it be very possible 
to school the tongue to speak with complacency, yet is it to 
be seriously apprehended, that in nine cases out of ten, 
there will be " bitter envying and strife in the heart ;" and 
" where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every 
evil work." 

6. Controversy next demands our passing stricture. In 
religion, it literally feeds upon the aliment furnished by the 
various sectaries. Go, where you will, they are always to 
be found with arms in their hands. Brethren of the same 
church may live together for years, without the occurrence 
of a single word to ruffle the expansive smoothness and 



852 



SERMON XXVI. 



equanimity of their tempers. Others are scarcely fellow 
travellers for a day, without indulging in some hard speech- 
es, and stifling a multitude of harder thoughts. The pecu- 
liarities of a creed or a party soon involve them in the 
warmth of discussion. One gets the better in the argu- 
ment and is elated, the other fails and is angry. He makes 
up in abuse what he has been incapable of effecting through 
the medium of reason or revelation. Even the press itself, 
from which we might reasonably expect something more 
cool and courteous, is oftentimes the prolifick instrument of 
religious controversies, the most relentless and vindictive. 
It is not so much the object to enlighten, as it is to con- 
quer ; to gain a brother from the ranks of heresy and 
schism, as to make him the butt of ridicule and reproach. 
But were there no sects, the most of this wrangling would 
come to an end, for the same reason that the body dies, 
when not a morsel of food can be had to appease the 
famished appetite. As it is, though it be of the last im- 
portance to " contend earnestly for the faith which was 
once delivered unto the saints," far be it from me to be so 
enamoured with the prize of victory or lured by the lust 
for fame, as to forget the grand incentive to all laudable 
controversy, thus happily announced by the apostle, James ; 
" Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one 
convert him, let him know, that he which converteth a sin- 
ner from the errour of his way shall save a soul from death, 
and shall hide a multitude of sins." 

7. It is nevertheless to be mournfully acknowledged, 
that slander is one of the most common ingredients, thrown 
into the cup of religious strife and dissension. Instead of 
being anxious to cherish kind dispositions, where heterodox 
doctrines have taken up a permanent abode, and against 
these last alone expending the strength of our resources, it 
has become too fashionable to sport abusive personal epi- 
thets ; and worse than this, to deal largely in the venom of 
false and calumnious charges. A forward movement 
sometimes materially depends upon the success experienced 
in prejudicing the publick mind against a particular de- 
nomination. And then, what an incredible amount of 
scandal is immediately borne away upon the pinions of the 
fleetest wind. No pains are taken to learn the truth. No 
wish is entertained to correct a falsehood. To crush one 



SERMON XXVI. 



353 



of the numerous churches, whose existence confers such 
pretended blessings upon the country, is now the insatiable 
desire of the self styled liberalist ; and, to effect it, no 
means are too foul, no slander too atrocious. Is this pre- 
ferable to unity ? In such a moral soil, will religion attain 
to greater perfection, than where all the causes of filth and 
pollution have been carefully removed; where noxious 
weeds do cease to grow and vegetable poisons to be dis- 
tilled ? Let conscience answer. Its still small voice will 
yet work wonders, where they were never wrought be- 
fore. Long ago, in the case of the psalmist, it gave utter- 
ance to the doctrine of heavenly origin, "Behold, how 
good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together 
in unity." 

8. Enmity is another and a truly deplorable feature, 
visible in the paths of schism. To belong to another 
church is, in many instances, all that is requisite to close the 
relations of amity and brotherly-kindness. If there be no 
open rupture, the air is distant, the manners frigid. Even 
where advances are made of a friendly character, they are 
frequently met by unequivocal symptoms of distrust. The 
respective leaders are determined not to be out-generalled, 
and watch each other with an eye as vigilant, as 
if they were in danger of falling into an ambuscade or 
of being blown up by the springing of a mine. And if 
secret enmity be not apprehended, what need can there be 
of this superabundant caution ? If all who name the name 
of Christ have nothing about them, analogous to the exclu- 
siveness of a highland clan, why are the social relations so 
often bounded by the sectarian tie ? Why is patronage 
in the line of business, especially the minor descriptions, 
so assiduously bestowed upon members of the same de- 
nomination, to the prejudice of others, far more skilful and 
deserving ? Why, in municipal, state, and national elec- 
tions, is it so necessary to conciliate powerful sects, at 
the expense of having offices badly filled and injus- 
tice meted out to sterling merit ? If there were no ac- 
tual hostility, we may be certain, there would be no such 
guarded jealousy, nor clannish circles, nor misapplied fa- 
vours, nor political finesse. But situated as we are, the 
churches and the people of the world appear to understand 
each other perfectly well. We pander to them, and thej 

30 



854 



SERMON XXVI. 



pander to us. They are not so blind as to be incapable of 
discerning cur notorious alienation, and we are quite as 
shrewd in finding the w T ay to their hearts. The scrip- 
ture is getting to be less and less character] stick, where it 
is written ; " The children of this world are in their gene- 
ration wiser than the children of light." 

9. Formality is also the veritable child of schism. Tak- 
ing advantage of the mere sound of words, it has been long 
appropriated to the advocates for a form of prayer, as if 
they alone could be guilty of so flagrant an offence to the 
pure eye of God. But not to insist, that this virtually 
converts Jesus himself into the greatest of formalists, 
since he both composed a form of devotion and prescribed 
it upon our observance ; not to insist upon this, it is evident, 
that formality is a term of general import. It implies, that 
in religions exercises of all kinds the outward and inward 
man are at diametrical variance. In prayer, the lips move ; 
in the profession of a dogmatick faith, the tongue articu- 
lates, but beyond this, the understanding is inert, the heart 
unaffected. And the existing tendencies all incline in that 
direction. It is a matter of policy to confess the faith of 
Christ, as a passport to sectarian countenance. It is pre- 
possessing to talk about experimental ^eligion, rather than 
perfect it, as an humble follower of God and the Lamb. 
It has got to be an infallible mark of a christian, to be very 
active and zealous, in the external apparatus of his sect, 
because this attracts the more attention and the more en- 
hances its fame. He is seen on his way to extra wor- 
shipping assemblies. He is known to be ultra in his sup- 
port of numerous societies, of high moral and religious pre- 
tension. He comprehends full well, that his name will 
share the meed of praise, if its appearance on published 
lists of charitable donors be perseveringly secured. And 
all this generates formality. It predisposes the mind to 
rest satisfied with appearances. It causes the surface to 
look white and lustrous, when in the interiour, there often 
lies concealed a mass of corruption. 

10. And close by the side of formality appears its twin 
sister, spiritual pride. Jesus said, " Take my yoke upon 
you and learn of me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart; 
and ye shall find rest unto your souls." The words of 
Paul are thus plain and explicit, " I say, through the grace 



SERMON XXVI. 



355 



given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to 
think of himself more highly than he ought to think ; but 
to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man 
the measure of faith." But time and again is perfect ship- 
wreck made of all such injunctions, upon the rocks or in 
the quicksands of schism. " Stand by, I am holier than 
thou" would seem to be one of its inevitable sequences. 
All denominations claim the pre-eminence. None are 
willing to occupy the lowest station. From every quar- 
ter, the cry resounds, our orthodoxy excels, our piety, our 
benevolence, our love, our holiness. Why, brethren, do 
ye not see, that in this spirit of emulation, this challeng- 
ing of transcendent merit, there is enough to satisfy every 
reasonable man of the entirely unauthorized character of 
sectarian establishments ? No surer means could be de- 
vised to instigate christians to the admiration of their own 
excellencies. But all this is expressly forbidden by Christ, 
and consequently the system, which produces it, cannot 
proceed from him. It must be the illegitimate offspring of 
the human brain. The gospel rejects all alliance,. all kin- 
dred connexion with spiritual pride. 

11. Nor is it less at variance with the genius of bigotry. 
I do not mean a warm and decided predilection for the 
things of God. There is nothing wrong in standing firm 
and immoveable in the profession of a true faith, it will 
not excite the divine displeasure, that we have inflexibly 
maintained all the doctrines which he has revealed, all the 
institutions and ordinances which he, in his infinite wisdom, 
hath commanded to be had in remembrance. If this be big- 
otry, I hope to die, as I would live, thoroughly imbued with 
its spirit. But to me it wears a different aspect, and car- 
ries itself with a more lordly air. Its attachments either 
centre on comparatively trifling observances, not ordained 
in the word of God, or they are indissolubly wedded to prin- 
ciples and practices, which are there the subjects of unmiti- 
gated censure. The bigoted man will not give up schism, 
though he has every reason to be satisfied of his having 
fallen into its embraces; he will not lerd himself to the 
promotion of union, though his conscience were to whisper 
day after day and year after year, that he could not more ef- 
fectually consult the welfare and prosperity of Zion. It is 
with him a source of undissembled pride, that having once 



356 



SERMON XXVI. 



formed an opinion or commenced a practice, nothing is al- 
lowed to work a change nor human being to surmise the 
possibility of his being addicted to a fatal errour. It is not 
God that he loves, it is self. It is not Christianity that he 
admires, it is his own conceit. The only cure for him is the 
tearing down of the edifice of dissent, which is built of 
all the raw materials of errour, and is still strong enough 
to make a resolute resistance to the onset and the weapons 
of truth. 

12. The succeeding evil of division is opposite in its 
nature, and is to be referred to laxity of doctrine and prac- 
tice. We are so charmed with the idea of being thought 
liberal and charitable in our views of the denominations 
around us, that great, numbers are prepared to surrender 
all the controverted questions in theology, rather than be 
charged with the indulgence of unkind feelings and the 
absence of practical benevolence. But if a large majority 
could bring themselves to receive the gospel, precisely as 
it comes from the inspired page and before it becomes di- 
luted wjth the imaginings of men, it would not be in the 
power of every stripling in divinity to fasten such odium 
on the dissemination of the doctrines, which are according 
to godliness. Christians in fact require what schism alone 
prevents them from having. They want a common banner 
under which to contend manfully for the truth. They 
want a common church, wherein to deposite all the con- 
quests, which they shall make from the empire of sin. 
Let this be done, and all the lax theology of the age, re- 
solved into its primitive elements, philosophy and vain de- 
ceit, the tradition of men and the rudiments of the world, 
would soon receive a quietus, from which the pert speech 
and flippant pen could not rally the lost remedial powers of 
its nature. 

13. The absence of discipline in the churches is another 
and a melancholy accompaniment of our broken, divided 
state. Pastors are afraid to do their duty ; communicants 
know it, and, setting authority at defiance, run riot in ini- 
quity. According to your own doctor Porter ; An indi- 
vidual is arraigned for open, perhaps habitual, violation of 
the laws of Christ. He is obstinate in self justification. 
Others sympathize with him and take his part. Prejudices 
are excited. Parties are formed. A struggle for influence 



SERMON XXVI. 



357 



commences. And clamour, and wrath, and all the mis- 
chiefs that result from baleful passions, blown into angry 
commotion, ensue." The great object being to retain 
every member, there is first a strong dislike to bring about 
an investigation, which may throw an offender, with nu- 
merous friends, into the arms of another denomination, 
always ready to welcome deserters with a warm fraternal 
embrace. Or, if this consideration be resisted on the part 
of the shepherd of the flock, the congregation soon take 
the alarm and begin to cast in their minds, if it be not better 
to part with their spiritual head, whose place may be easily 
supplied, rather than sustain a serious diminution of num- 
bers by sustaining him, from the trifling circumstance of 
his being right and conscientious in the exercise of his 
high functions. Or, if other and nobler motives prevail, 
then indeed as the good, doctor says, " A struggle for influ- 
ence commences. And clamour, and wrath, and all the 
mischiefs that result from baleful passions, blown into an- 
gry commotion, ensue." Often have I seen, and more often 
heard of, precisely such a state of things as this. And he, 
who has once gone through the uproar and the turmoil, 
will be very strongly inclined to pause again and ao-ain. 
before he institutes process against the very worst offend- 
ers, those who not only disgrace the communion of the 
church, but are actually vile and refuse in the estimation of 
the world. The questions will be constantly recurring, Is 
not the remedy worse than the disease ? Will it not in- 
crease rather than diminish existing abuses? Is it not 
better to enact the coward and mourn in silence, rather 
than cry aloud and spare not, courageously fulfilling the 
law of the Lord ? My own opinion is, that the great day 
of account will reveal a vast amount of temporizing and 
connivance in the history of schism, not much to the honour 
of its friends on the one hand, or even of its enemies on 
the other. What concord hath Christ with Belial, that 
notorious knaves, liars, drunkards, and adulterers should be 
tolerated at the marriage supper of the Lamb 1 When 
scouted from decent society, should they be harboured 
there ? 

14. Ultraism is another evil, growing out of the division 
of churches. It is a very appropriate name for novelties 
in religion, and even for scriptural doctrines and usages, so 
30* 



858 



SJSRMON XXVI. 



distorted and mangled, as to bear nothing more than the 
faintest possible resemblance to the divine original. Num- 
bers appear excessively tired and weary of the good old 
way of converting sinners, recommended in the gospel. 
It wants attraction, and they must supply it ; excitement, 
and it must be kindled by their torch ; celerity of action 
in the reforming process, and like the patentees of some 
mechanical invention, they have the honour of discovering 
it, and the exclusive privilege of putting it into operation. 
One church sufficed for the apostles. Three hundred will 
not content the ultraists of our age. Moral and religious 
societies are in a fair way to outnumber these. In the 
rage for improvement, in the prevailing mania for carry- 
ing every thing to excess, in the renown attendant upon 
new theories and new institutions, the sanative properties 
of God's word are deemed defective ; the provision made 
in God's hospital for the cure of the sick and wounded is 
stale and antiquated ; it has nearly or quite escaped the 
memory of our transcendentalists, that, long before they 
had any being or the nostrums which they have devised, 
" the Lord added to the church daily such as should be 
saved." 

15. The strides of infidelity are also more and more 
apparent upon the broad road of schism. Even among 
the professors of religion, there are many unpalatable 
doctrines of the bible, which they cannot make up their 
minds heartily to believe essential to the salvation of the 
soul. They think about them very much as the German 
professor thought of eternal punishment, " that this doctrine 
evidently appears in the new testament, but that his heart 
could not receive it, unless he were to change his views 
of the character of God." The traveller Dwight, ye may 
recollect, calls him " one of the orthodox professors." But 
if such language does not contain the essence of infidelity, 
I am at a loss to interpret the meaning of the word. If 
similar sentiments are not held within sanctuary precincts, 
why are we so perpetually cautioned against maintaining 
the express words of scripture, because their natural and 
easy construction would prove fatal to myriads of idle 
dreams and visionary hopes ? The more I ponder the sub- 
ject, the more seriously am I impressed with the convic- 
tion, that the dissenting churches are in great danger of 



SERMON XXVI. 



359 



being overwhelmed in the vortex of infidel philosophy. 
They are utterly incapable of purifying the world from its 
taint, and the world threatens to storm their barriers and 
instal itself upon their altars. Already has the European 
continent fallen, and, instead of being satisfied, in the British 
isles and our own America, the work of desolation accele- 
rates its pace, and approaches nearer and nearer to the 
conquest, at which it aims. 

16. Finally, brethren, ungodliness triumphs with the 
triumphing of dissent. As ye have heard, " where envy- 
ing and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work." 
United efforts would prove, that christians are cordial in 
the faith, and anxious to extend the salvation, of the gospel. 
But when the world beholds them split into innumerable 
factions ; when there are provocations here and heart- 
burnings there ; when they are quite as intent in doing 
each other harm as in excelling in grace ; when the quali- 
fications for church membership are not incompatible with 
flagrant breaches of morality, no wonder that this world 
is prone to think lightly of the profession of Christianity ; 
that it devotes itself, body and soul, to business, pleasure ? 
gain ; that its race is downward and its goal, ungodlinesSo 

In this rapid manner, I fiave therefore barely glanced at 
the more obvious evils of schism. Ye may think, breth- 
ren, that it is my intention to insinuate, that we know 
nothing of their deleterious influence, within the bounds of 
the episcopal church. But no such thing. We cannot 
live in the world, without being exposed to all the moral 
contagion, which vitiates and destroys the world. We 
are no better than we should be, notwithstanding all the 
spiritual privileges profusely poured into our lap ; and I am 
very certain that we are much worse, owing to the vast 
number of heresies, the loose principles and practices, 
which have distinguished your presbyterian innovation 
upon the ministry of holy things. My object, in these dis- 
courses, is not then limited to your benefit alone. Christian 
union would diffuse a far more healthful glow and vigorous 
action, through the real mystical body of Christ. Greatly 
should we profit by its consummation. In seeking your 
good, we seek the means to multiply our own, to transfer 
your jewels to the crown of our rejoicing. And this, may 



360 



SERMON XXVI. 



God of his infinite mercy grant ; may he heal our dissen- 
sions, remove all obstacles to harmony, and knit our hearts 
together in one. And to him, shall be ascribed all praise, 
honour, glory, power, world without end. Amen. 



SERMON XXVII. 



ISAIAH LXii. I. 

FOR ZION'S SAKE WILL I NOT HOLD MY PEACE, AND FOR 

Jerusalem's sake i will not rest, until the right- 
eousness THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, AND THE 
SALVATION THEREOF AS A LAMP THAT BURNETH. 

My task is almost done. How will it be received ? 
What return will ye make me, brethren, for the anxious 
hours through which I have toiled to do you good, and in 
your good to advance the best interests of the church of 
Christ ? Weigh well the question, ere ye answer. M]^ 
reward, if a reward be granted, will not be in this world. 
Other modes there are to win the praise of men. Their 
prejudices must be shunned ; their suspicions, lulled ; their 
passions, soothed ; their tumours, angry and sore, lightly 
breathed upon. Plain dealing has ceased to be numbered 
among the virtues. And I have been too frank and ingen- 
uous, in the exposure of long cherished errours, to flatter 
myself with the hope of being cheered with the universal 
plaudit. 

Some excellent men there are, who entertain the same 
radical principles with me, and are yet averse to give them 
utterance. Policy is their plea. It will offend. It will 
do no good. But to this I reply : Truth is not to be sup- 
pressed for the sake of errour. Policy is not to be follow- 
ed to the prejudice of conscience. Some will be offended ; 
others will be more magnanimous. Some will receive no 
good ; others may gain it in abundance. On similar 
grounds, the doctrine of inherent corruption, the doctrine 
of everlasting punishment, in case of final impenitence, 
must be avoided by the preacher. It will be impolitick to 
avow them. It will offend. In many instances, it will do 



362 



SERMON XX V II. 



no good. And with such pleas in our mouths, where I 
ask, are we to stop? Where is that line between truths 
of expediency and inexpediency, by which we are to be 
guided ? For my own part, I have learnt from the fountain 
of wisdom, that the apostles " renounced the hidden things 
of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the 
word of God deceitfully," and therefore it will be my poli- 
cy to do as they did, " by manifestation of the truth," to com- 
mend myself " to every man's conscience in the sight of 
God," solicitous principally for his approbation, and mind- 
ful of the saying of Jesus, " Wo unto you, when all men 
shall speak well of you ! For so did their fathers to the 
false prophets." 

And besides this, brethren, I find not a particle of fault 
with any man's true piety, or zeal, or devotion, or benevo- 
lence, or holiness of life and conversation. The more he 
serves God, the more he gratifies me. But where ye do 
err ; where that errour has a most injurious tendency up- 
on the eternal interests of mankind ; where such views of 
the ministry are entertained, that, under their operation, 
every species of heresy is boldly preached, from unitarian- 
ism and universalism down to that new fashioned infidel- 
ity, which is perversely termed philosophick Christianity, 
there I feel it to be my most solemn duty to entreat, to 
warn, to persuade ; there I am bound, as I value my own 
salvation, to bear open testimony, not against individuals, 
but against systems, fraught with incalculable evil to the 
souls of millions. I know that it will give offence, though 
offence be not intended. But whom do I offend ? A fel- 
low worm. Whom, if right, do I please ? Him, whose 
favour is life, and whose loving-kindness is better than the 
life itself. 

Many of you are indeed determined to speak as lightly 
as possible of the divine authority of the christian priest- 
hood, and the unity of the churches. But how widely 
different were the thoughts and the language of bishop 
Bull, renowned alike for learning and for grace ! " I would 
not be so presumptious as to say positively, that I am able 
to bear so great a trial ; but according to my sincere 
thoughts of myself, I could, through God's assistance, lay 
down my life, upon condition that all those, who dissent 
from the church of England, were united in her commun- 



SERMON XXVII. 



363 



ion." How melancholy, in the eyes of the incomparable 
Taylor, were the ravages of schism, and how pathetically 
did he bewail it, before the mercy seat ! " Lord, let me 
never have any portion among those that divide the union, 
and disturb the peace, and break the charities of the church 
and christian communion. And although I am fallen into 
evil times, in which Christendom is divided by the names of 
an evil division ; yet I am in charity with all christians, 
with all that love the Lord Jesus and long for his coming, 
and I would give my life to save the soul of any of my 
brethren. And I humbly beg of thee, that the publick ca- 
lamity of the several societies of the church may not be 
imputed to my soul, to any evil purposes." 

In siding with such men, encouraging such dispositions, 
and offering such prayer, there is no guile and there will 
be no peril. True it is, that there can be no available.sac- 
rifice of life in this glorious cause. It were idle in me to 
profess a willingness to do that, which both these worthies, 
of a more sanguinary age, would have rejoiced to endure. 
But did they estimate at so high a value the very external 
unity, now regarded as romantick and absurd 1 My senti- 
ments are in perfect coincidence ; and, though life remain 
unjeoparded and unpledged, yet am I not afraid of the 
storm and the fury of persecution almost certain to ensue. 
The tongue is oftentimes sharper than a sword, and the 
pen more cruel. But by such weapons, I am not to be in- 
timidated. They are the common resort and the necessary 
tactic ! ; s of a hard pressed and sinking party. If they 
could have daunted the intrepid spirit of Luther, where 
would have been the reformation from papal tyranny ? If 
no one is willing to incur the risk of having a similar 
amount of slander and invective lavishly expended upon 
him, when shall we be able to discern the end of the pres- 
byterian schism ? 

By the great and good bishop Beveridge, it was spoken 
of, in these terms ; " As for schism, they certainly hazard 
their salvation at a strange rate, who separate themselves 
from such a church as ours is, wherein the apostolical suc- 
cession, the root of all christian communion, hath been so 
entirely preserved, and the word and sacraments are so 
effectually administered ; and all to go into such assem- 
blies and meetings, as have no pretence to the great prom- 



364 



SERMON XXVII. 



ise in my text, ' Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the 
end of the world.' For it is manifest, that this promise 
was made only to the apostles and their successors to the 
end of the world. Whereas, in the private meetings, 
where their teachers have no apostolical or episcopal im- 
position of hands, they have no ground to pretend to suc- 
ceed the apostles, nor by consequence any right to the 
Spirit which our Lord here promiseth." Bold language, 
brethren, and, coming from such a source, entitled to the 
serious consideration of every reflecting mind. Schismat- 
icks are supposed to " hazard their salvation at a strange 
rate." Can ye prove the reverse ? Is it an innocent and 
laudable act to rend the body of Christ, when the scrip- 
tures expressly condemn it ? My answer ye will find in 
the preceding pages. Let yours be recorded on the 
tablet of a good conscience. 

In the mean time, it is to be acknowledged, that many 
persons have been exceedingly desirous of discovering 
some method, through which they could be assured of the 
final salvation of such as depart hence in a state of schism. 
To cure the defect of illegal ordinances, the latin maxim 
has been often quoted, " quod fieri non debet, factum va- 
let ;" that which is not lawful to be done, when done is 
valid. To get rid of some very difficult texts, it has been 
gravely proposed to consider them saved, not by the ex- 
ceedingly great and precious promises made us through 
Christ, but " by the uncovenanted mercies of God." Nei- 
ther the maxim nor the doctrine do however appear in the 
sacred volume. And deservedly are they rejected by the 
great body of the dissenters. To their credit be it known, 
these contrivances have never enjoyed with them the 
slightest reputation. All those, professing the faith of 
Christ, who will rejoice with him forever, must have the 
promise of salvation, no matter what may be the obliquity 
of the human vision, our prejudice or our bigotry, actually 
imbodied in the written revelation of heaven. On its au- 
thority alone, can we venture to indulge the hope of ev- 
erlasting life. If there be nothing there to affirm it, it is 
no where to be found ; if there be, no tongue can cancel 
and no pen erase it. 

In all theological discussions, I am therefore dis- 
posed to rely implicitly upon the testimony it bears. 



SERMON XXVII. 



365 



Personally, I have no system to inculcate and no judgment 
to pronounce. Jesus himself answered the Jews, " and 
said, my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me." And 
far from me be the arrogance of maintaining any one 
principle or practice, on the infallibility of my own weak 
and rayless intellect. If the leading positions, taken in 
these discourses, are not of bible origin, they are utterly 
false and injurious. There is something incomprehensible 
to me, in such passages as these ; " If a man love ma, he 
will keep my words." " He that loveth me not, keepeth 
not my sayings." ' 4 Whosoever shall do the will of my 
Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and 
sister, and mother." If the bible does contain them, the 
whole world cannot enter into such a solemn league and 
covenant, as shall eventuate in their entire overthrow. 
" Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift, 
and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down 
from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness^ 
neither shadow of turning." 

And similar remarks apply to the common practice of 
consigning large bodies of men, on our own authority, to 
the vengeance of eternal fire. Though really impotent to 
such a degree, that we cannot " make one hair white or 
black," yet are we perpetually usurping the supreme ma- 
gistracy of heaven and earth, and in our own persons fore- 
stalling the office of him, who is " ordained of God to be 
the judge of quick and dead." Far better would it be to 
imagine ourselves standing before his awful tribunal, 
rather than occupying its seat of dignity and power. It 
would teach us to love the mercy, we are now but too 
seldom inclined to reduce to practice. For myself, not 
professing to comprehend the rationale or reason of eternal 
punishment, and believing it simply because it is revealed 
so plainly that he who runs may read, I leave its justice to 
be vindicated by the Almighty, whose thoughts are not as 
our thoughts nor whose ways as our ways. We think it 
a most painful duty to visit upon the vilest culprits, the 
pains and penalties of temporal death. But what are they 
to such as are infinite in degree and eternal in duration ? 
Placed in this light, human reason recoils with amazement 
from the merest statement of the fact. It cannot consent 
to it. Never was it designed, that it should be able to 

31 



366 



SERMON XXVII. 



fathom its propriety. We must heartily believe it, on the 
naked, unsupported testimony of God. Ultimately, he 
will justify the righteousness of his counsels, in the pres- 
ence of an assembled universe. 

In the interim, let it be remembered, that there is just 
as great difficulty in reconciling the never ending per- 
dition of the greatest offenders with the divine goodness, 
as there is in the case of the least, among those who die 
impenitent. I have no such power. It is too high for 
me. I cannot attain to it. Prove it unjust to punish a 
little sinner everlastingly from the presence of God, and 
ye will furnish me with all that is requisite to prove its 
injustice, though sin be piled on sin, enormity upon enor- 
mity. Of this, however, we may be confident, that, of all 
men, he, who wishes to involve others in the horrours of 
the bottomless pit, is most deserving of its aggravated 
destiny, the ceaseless ravages of the undying worm and 
unquenchable fire. He must be a demon incarnate. 
Were it left with every good man to determine the des- 
tiny of his fellow mortals, he would come to judgment in 
no " questionable shape ;" he would bring with him " airs 
from heaven," and not " blasts from hell." He would re- 
member that it is written of the Lord, he is " not willing 
that any should perish, but that all should come to repent- 
ance." Repentance is therefoi^e necessary. Some awful, 
incomprehensible necessity there is, on the part of God, 
of punishing those who will not love him and keep his 
commandments. If this be not the doctrine of the bible, 
it is not mine. If it be, it is useless to contend against it. 
We need not think to match our puny arm against the 
puissance of the Infinite. It is our province to believe, to 
repent, and to obey. It was Paul who insisted, " Let 
God be true, but every man a liar." 

And this declaration of his reminds me of some other 
passages, which should make every individual exceedingly 
cautious of the manner, in which he ventures to deny the 
verity of a single doctrine of the bible, from an overween- 
ing disposition to look at the consequences attending its 
admission ; how many will perish, if it be true, how many 
more will be saved, if it be false. With such calculations 
we have nothing to do. They would make sound doc- 
trine to depend on something foreign to the word, when 



SERMON XXVII. 



367 



that is the only manual of both faith and practice, on which 
we can securely repose. In the first epistle of John, the 
declaration is, " He that believeth on the Son of God hath 
the witness in himself : He that believeth not God hath 
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that 
God gave of his Son." No man indeed could be so lost 
to all sense of shame as to charge falsehood directly upon 
God. It must necessarily be done in some circuitous, in- 
ferential mode. And the passage, I have given, refers it 
to the disbelief of his inspired record. Yes, brethren, this 
it is, which is equivalent to calling him a liar. Nor only 
this : For " if we say that we have not sinned, we make 
him a liar, and his word is not in us." 

On the principle recognised in these two passages, I 
would therefore advise you to resolve all those doctrines 
and institutions, which claim to be derived from the sacred 
volume ; on the principle, that if ye pronounce that to be 
false, which is there alleged to be true, and vice versa, 
that to be true, which according to the same authority is 
false, or if ye will persist in any act of disobedience, in the 
vain confidence that ye are not sinning, in all or either of 
these cases, ye make God a liar ; in other words, ye im- 
pute falsehood to him, who is not a man that he should lie, 
nor the son of man that he should repent. By simply ad- 
hering to this inspired rule, it does appear to me, that we 
should, every one of us, be more careful and sedate, in ar- 
riving at the most important conclusions than we are 
accustomed to be. The indolent would inquire more 
thoroughly : the presumptuous would lower the dogma- 
tism of his tone ; the latitudinarian would consult a better 
oracle than his feelings ; the ignorant, loquacious tyro 
would cease to talk without the semblance of a text ; the 
doctrine of the apostle woald be in a fair way to be more 
and more in vogue, where, speaking of " Jesus Christ the 
righteous," it is said, " Hereby we do know that we know 
him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I 
know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, 
and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, 
in him verily is the love of God perfected, hereby know 
we that we are in him." 

In this connexion, it will be also highly advisable and 
advantageous to reflect seriously upon the memorable 



888 



SERMON XXVII. 



counsel proceeding from the lips of the Lord Jesus. " If any 
man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether 
it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." Too often 
do we hear a too rigid construction of the positive institu- 
tions of the gospel, the priesthood and the sacraments, 
complained of, by those who never deigned to test their 
value and necessity, in the practical mode pointed out by 
Christ. They never chose to do the will of God, in rela- 
tion to these minor concerns. They have rather affected 
to look down upon them with ineffable contempt, or have 
assumed them with a low estimate of their importance or 
in an irregular manner. And how are they to know of 
the doctrine pertaining to them, whether it be of God, or 
the reverse ? Certainly, brethren, the rule submitted by 
our Saviour must have some meaning, some moral force 
and efficacy. And if it does not imply, that disobedience 
disqualifies from attaining to the true knowledge of the 
wisdom of God, what idea does it convey ? The plea of 
spirituality must not be resorted to, as if the doctrine of the 
ministry and sacraments were of another cast. Repeat- 
edly have I shown you, that sincere obedience is the 
grand criterion of spirituality. Ye have only to peruse the 
gospel injunctions to love God and your neighbour, in order 
to discover the broad comprehensive declaration, " On 
these two commandments hang all the law and the proph- 
ets." Love is consequently inseparably connected with the 
performance of every thing divinely ordained. Love is the 
active agent, causing us to walk with God in the minutest 
requirements of his word, and nothing can be more spiritu- 
al than love. 

Permit me then to direct your attention to two particu- 
lars, not yet adverted to, in relation to which the failure to 
comply, on the part of dissenters, is nearly or quite univer- 
sal. The first is confirmation or the laying on of hands, 
discussed at large in my previous volume, and enumerated 
by the apostle among " the first principles of the oracles 
of God," " the principles of the doctrine of Christ." And 
what are first principles, but those which never vary, 
which are accommodated to all times and seasons ? In 
the philosophy of attraction, it is a first principle that 
heavy bodies descend to the surface of the earth ; in hy- 
draulicks, that water will find its level ; in motion, that 



SERMON XXVII. 369 

force must be applied to propel a body at rest ; in reli- 
gion, that there is a God. And are these so many principles 
firmly established in the minds of men, neither to be 
denied with truth nor expunged at pleasure, as caprice 
prevails or ignorance obscures ? Is the Almighty the 
less a God, because the heathen worship idols, or be- 
cause he was once unknown at Athens ? So then must we 
determine of confirmation or the laying on of hands. As 
a first principle of the oracles of God and the doctrine of 
Christ, it is universally, it is perpetually binding, wherev- 
er the gospel is preached. Why is it rejected by nearly all 
those who separate from the primitive apostolick church 1 

The second particular, to which I refer, is the Lord's 
prayer. It is commanded by Christ. The disciples were 
directed, " When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in 
heaven." Why then is it banished from your pubiick as- 
semblies ? The opening words, " Our Father," show that 
it was intended to be a common praver or a prayer used 
by the congregation of believers. Why do your clergy 
almost unanimously refuse to give it utterance? If ye tell me, 
that it is virtually done, though the very language be not 
adopted, 1 beg leave to inquire, how often have ye heard 
the substance of this most important clause, " Forgive us 
our debts," that is, our trespasses, "as we forgive our debt- 
ors," those who trespass against us ? I call it most im- 
portant, because the whole prayer itself is immediately fol- 
lowed by the doctrine, " For if ye forgive men their tres- 
passes, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but 
if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your 
Father forgive your trespasses." I ask, how often have ye 
heard its substance, because it may trouble you to remember 
a single instance. If ye prefer to rely upon the introduc- 
tory command in Matthew, " after this manner therefore 
pray ye," as though it superseded the necessity of obeying 
the more strict injunction, in Luke," when ye pray, say f 
as though, in fact, it authorized you to amplify all the pe- 
titions to such an extent, that the idea of the original should 
not once enter into the mind of a fellow worshipper, 
what is this, in effect, but instituting a comparison between 
your own and the prayer of Christ, to the prejudice of the 
latter ? What is it but to say, our numerous and ever va- 
rying paraphrases are better than the inspired draught ? 

31* 



370 



SERMON XXVII. 



Bear with me, brethren, when I assure you, that the omis- 
sion in question has a very extraordinary appearance. How 
can ye satisfactorily account to yourselves for the circum- 
stance, that such a prayer, as Jesus taught his disciples, is 
rarely or never repeated, within the area of your dissent- 
ing pale? 

Ye perceive, therefore, it is not in respect of the minis- 
try alone, that even the more orthodox of your number 
are at variance with the institutions and the ordinances of 
the gospel. What can be the cause 1 I am persuaded 
that it cannot be intentional. I feel that ye must be under 
the influence of a great moral delusion. Ye think your- 
selves to be right, either from ancestral prejudices, or by 
turning over abstract principles in your minds, or from 
making unauthorized classifications of the essentials and 
non-essentials of religion. But be the cause what it may, 
immense are the evils growing out of disunion, and serious 
is the responsibility incurred .by its abettors, especially 
such as are leaders, eminent for their attainments and of 
commanding influence in their several communions. It 
was to the question of the pharisees, " Are we blind 
also V that Jesus replied, " If ye were blind, ye should 
have no sin ; but now ye say, we see, therefore your sin 
remaineth." Applying the passage to the present melan- 
choly condition of the christian world, it will justify me in 
maintaining three separate and distinct positions. 

1. On the supposition that the presbyterian ministry is 
an innovation upon heavenly things and decidedly wrong, 
then the circumstance, of its adherents insisting that they 
perceive it to be right, does not amount, as many are 
prone to imagine, to a valid excuse. The pharisees re- 
jected Jesus as an impostor ; they fully believed him to be 
such ; they saw it just as clearly as episcopacy is now 
seen to be an usurpation. But mark the consequence of 
their alleged sagacity, the clearness and accuracy of their 
vision ; " Now ye say, we see, therefore your sin remain- 
eth." And it were useless to deny the application of the 
same principle, in case episcopacy be wrong and presby- 
terianism right. I rather feel myself obliged to admit it, 
in its full extent. There is nothing like favouritism in the 
divine commands. All are bound to find them out and to 
obey them. If we of the church are the real schismaticks. 



SERMON XXVII. 



371 



though we say, we see, our sin remaineth. I should be 
glad to have it otherwise, in both cases, if such were the 
will of heaven. But we must take the bible as it is. No 
option nor power, have we to obliterate a single sentence. 

2. And if zealously contending for the correctness of 
our views will not excuse our actual disobedience, much 
less will it avail to acknowledge that we are wrong, and 
still that wrong pursue. Thousands on thousands do 
nevertheless allow the scriptural character and claims of 
the episcopal church, who, for some reason or other, have 
not the courage to come out and declare themselves of 
her communion. But as her ministers are required to 
address such as they discover to be negligent in coming to 
the supper of the Lord, so am I constrained to address 
you, beloved brethren. " When God calleth you, are ye 
not ashamed to say, ye will not come ? When ye 
should return to God, will ye excuse yourselves, and 
say, ye are not ready ?" To advert to some of the 
more prominent reasons, which may be supposed to 
operate: Can ye deem it a legitimate apology, that 
ye do not think it essential, or that it has been found 
out too late in life to think of changing your profession, or 
that ye are already happily settled as clergymen, or that 
it would hurt the feelings of your relatives, or destroy your 
prospects in business, or expose you to hatred and perse- 
cution, or deprive you of warm friends and patrons, or 
subject you to derision as a changeling, or cause you to be 
calumniated as having no religion? God forbid! that 
such considerations should keep you one fleeting moment 
from the path of duty. Provided the church be what it is 
claimed to be, apologies like these are not worth the breath 
expended in making them known. Were presbyterianism 
true, all the kingdoms of the earth and the glory of them 
would be no temptation to prevent me from becoming a 
presbyterian. I could not hold them in my grasp a soli- 
tary day, without being constantly pierced through with 
the startling, agonizing interrogatories ; " What is a man 
profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own 
soul ? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his 
soul V The pharisees only said, we see ; but this would 
be actual seeing, and therefore my sin would the more 
certainly remain. 



372 



SERMON XXVII. 



3. The first clause of the passage must also be subject- 
ed to a rapid glance. " If ye were blind, ye should have 
no sin." It does not mean blind, through personal neg- 
lect, or prejudice, or obstinacy. Their sin, the sin of 
these very pharisees, would not then have remained. It 
must mean a species of blindness, no less invincible than 
that which prevents the sightless eyeball from gazing on 
the wonders of animate and inanimate nature. Ignorance 
itself may exist under circumstances, rendering it highly 
criminal, or the scriptures would not have been clear and 
explicit in its condemnation. But if it prevail where there 
is no moral possibility of mental illumination, the passage 
in review certainly indicates, that in such case there will 
be no sin. Millions on millions of professing christians 
have died, without so much as obtaining the faintest 
glimpse of the visible apostolick church. They have 
lived, where it was never established, and perhaps never 
heard of. With that which men have constructed, they 
have nevertheless eagerly enrolled their names ; they have 
been baptized according to the ritual of Jesus ; they have 
repaired to the dissenting sacramental table. And provi- 
ded, that in all other particulars they have been holy and 
unblameable in their lives, who shall have the presumption 
to assert that they cannot be saved ? Wherever indeed 
it shall be known to the Almighty, that ignorance is inno- 
cent, there, there cannot be a particle of doubt of the ev- 
erlasting salvation of the soul. 

It is still of the utmost importance to be borne in mind, 
that persons are continually .deceiving themselves, in the 
use of expressions, which, though definite and logical in 
form, may be very indefinite and illogical in the applica- 
tion. Of this class is the following, to which I have often 
listened. " If our hearts are right, we shall certainly be 
saved." A sounder proposition cannot be advanced. It 
would be madness to attempt its refutation. But why is it 
not seen, that in the application it may partake largely of 
that mode of reasoning, which is termed begging the ques- 
tion ; that the fact of the heart being right is after all hy- 
pothetically assumed ; and that until this is ascertained by 
the true scriptural tests of faith, repentance, and obedience, 
nothing is gained which ought to satisfy a moral and ac- 
countable being ? I may assert of Judas and Simon Ma- 



SERMON XXVII. 



378 



gus, of Jews, Mahommedans, and even infidels, that if 
their hearts were and are right in the divine sight, they will 
all be saved. And no one can gainsay the principle. The 
grand difficulty consists in managing the little particle, if. 
Retain it, and the whole world may be saved. Displace 
it, and the hearts of all men must be right, or the whole 
w r orld cannot be saved. 

Similar remarks apply to the feeling of security, fre- 
quently indulged from the consideration of our Saviour's 
words ; " Ye shall know them by their fruits." Whereas 
every thing depends upon the fact of the actual existence 
of the fruits, and what is intended by that designation, 
whether it does or does not include positive institutions. 
If it does, they must be embraced. If it does not, persons 
may reject the ministry of the Lord Jesus, may be unbap- 
tized and non-communicants, even sabbath breakers, and 
still manifest a possession of the fruits of the Spirit. One 
positive institution cannot be more binding than another. 
It will never do to maintain the paradox, that though the 
sabbath cannot be violated with impunity, the back may 
be turned without scruple or loss upon the holy commun- 
ion. Search then brethren, I beseech you, the scriptures, 
and, in their light and upon their authority, determine the 
true state of the case, in relation to ail the external obser- 
vances, which are specified by them. Show that they are 
not obligatory, where they may be had, not one of them 
only but all since all rest upon the same foundation, and 
I will burn this book ; the whole edition shall go to the 
flames. But should ye find this impracticable, should ye 
believe it to be so in your hearts, why then confess it with 
your mouths ; pause not, linger not another instant, where 
to pause and linger is to condemn your own selves. 

And am I called in question ? Are my views implicated 
as constituting a breach of that charity, which is the bond 
of perfectness ? Permit me to assure you, of its being 
upon the basis of the soundest charity, that these views 
are built ; charity for souls, not that morbid charity which 
degenerates to the licentious liberality of beholding the 
progress of errour, heedless of its triumphs and unaffected 
by its consequences. Do ye think, if I did not love, did 
not cordialty greet my brethren of the dissenting folds, 
that I would hold out to you the right hand of fellowship, 



374 



SERMON XXVII. 



and urgently and assiduously strive to break down the 
wall of partition, which divides us ? Not so : The idea 
would be preposterous in the extreme. And consequently, 
if men, mistaking my motives, and impeaching my charity, 
will accuse me of uttering a war cry, be it remembered 
that this war cry is union, the union of Greek and Roman, 
catholick and protestant, episcopalian and presbyterian, of 
all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth, 
in the bosom of the one holy and universal church : Be it 
remembered, as the foundation of my efforts in a most 
humble sphere, that until this union be happily accomplish- 
ed, I can entertain no faith in the immediate conversion of 
the world, and glorious reign of Christ, from the rising of 
the sun unto the going down thereof. 

But to endeavour to bring about so desirable a result, by 
conforming to your ways, would be the wildest chimera 
imaginable. I will even suppose that the scriptures were 
silent upon the subject, so as to leave it optionable with us 
to have the ministry we pleased, and only insisting upon uni- 
formity, yet would there be insuperable difficulties attend- 
ing a resort to that which is presbyterian, owing to the im- 
mense number of rival claims, which would forthwith 
make their demands upon our choice. Decision must be 
had between two and three hundred sects, and as many 
creeds. Out of such a labyrynth of confused and devious 
paths, which is to be preferred ? Ye cannot tell, for that 
would be to agree, and to agree ye will not. Were the se- 
lection to be made by us, the clamour of the unselected 
would never be appeased, because the pretensions of many 
are about equal, and the residue are indisposed to abate a 
fraction of their crudest dogmas. But were the question 
first narrowed down to the ministry alone, and ye were to 
select the episcopal on the ground of its apostolick origin, 
there would not be two or three hundred, there would not 
be two, churches to distract your attention. Our church is 
one and indivisible. Had it as many creeds as your pres- 
byterianism admits of, it could not be the pillar and ground 
of the truth. A great many good things may be extracted 
from your several communions. But what of this ? We 
want them all in one, and the church is that one. Com- 
pared with those of human invention, gild them with all 
the lustre ye can, it invariably reminds me of the rank, as- 



SERMON XXVII. 



375 



signed to the most precious of the minerals, in the beau- 
tiful lines of Gray ; 

" As when conspiring in the diamond's blaze, 
"The meaner gems, which singly charm the sight 

"Together dart their intermingled rays, 
"And dazzle with a luxury of light I" 

Come then, beloved brethren, all ye who have hitherto 
wearied yourselves with endless divisions aud heresies, 
come, renounce them all, and enter into the ark which God 
hath prepared for the salvation of his saints, when a 
deluge of wrath shall overwhelm the host of the ungodly. 
Never should ye suffer it to escape from your msmory, 
that " Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, 
that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of 
water by the word." It may satisfactorily account to you 
for the zeal, with which her cause is advocated, and the im- 
mensity of her blessings tendered to your acceptance. 
But whatever may be your thoughts and whatever your 
decision ; however ye may acknowledge or withstand the 
institutions of God. unite with or keep aloof from the bride 
of his Anointed, the strength of my attachment will not be 
impaired ; it can only increase with increasing years, 
only fail to glow within my heart, when that heart shall 
become cold and still forever. " For Zion's sake will I 
not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not 
rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, 
and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth." Amen. 



INDEX AND REFERENCES. 



Abraham offering up Isaac, page 53 — his prevarications, 115. 
Absalom, case of, 135. 

Achan, in relation to preaching pointed out, 336. 

Act and Testimony of 2000 presbyterian elders, 207 to 212. 

Adam, case of, 40 and 63 — and Eve, their sincerity, 89 and 90. 

Allin, John, his case of lay ordination, 264 and 265. — See History of the 

church in Dedham. 
Amalekites, their destruction, 53. 
Antediluvians, their sincerity, 92. 

Anti-republicanism, of German presbyterians, 201 and 202 — charged up- 
on the church and refuted, 299 to 305. 

Apostle, office of, mistake of Dwight about the, 236 to 244 — the same 
with a bishop, 237—238 and 239. 

Apostles, established one and not many churches, 332 — supposed course 
in case they were now to preach to pagans, 333 to 336 — to act on the 
presbyterian plan would involve them in the most flagrant contradic- 
tions, 334 and 335. 

Atheistick society, Kneeland's at Boston, 226. 

Baptism, water, a positive institution, sermon upon, 73 — commanded, 74 
— 75 — 76 and 77 — instances of, 77 — a saving ordinance, 78 to 80 — ne- 
cessity of, 80 to 82 — bishop Beveridge upon, 81 — a mark or prere- 
quisite of the new-birth, 82 to 85 — in the case of the centurion, 83 to 
85 — should be celebrated in the case of infants, 130 to 133 — compared 
with circumcision, 131 and 132. 

Baptists, their divisions and heresies, 227. 

Barnabas was an apostle and not a presbyter, 232 and 233. 

Baxter, Richard, his opinion of the independents, 213 and 214 — denies 
the office of a lay elder, 281 — on the evils of dissensions among chris- 
tians, HI— Life of Baxter, p. 138— 140— 143 and 144.— See Orme. 

Beecher, doctor, on collisions of rival sects, 341. — Letter to editor of 
New-York Evangelist, July 1833. 

Beveridge, bishop, upon baptism, 81 — upon schism, 363 and 364 — Ser- 
mons, vol. 1. p. 306 — and on Matthew, xxviii. 20 

Bible society, one great object of, entirely defeated, 340. 

Bigamy, polygamy, and concubinage once lawful, 52. 

Bigotry, one of the evils of schism, 355. 

Bingham, a missionary, his inquiry for the Achan, in relation to the slow 
progress and little success in preaching the gospel, 336. — The Phila- 
delphian, August 27, 1835. 

Bishop, and presbyter, words promiscuously used, 237 to 239 — the same 
with an apostle, 237—238 and 239. 

32 



378 



INDEX AND REFERENCES. 



Bisset, John, his remark upon ignorance and Whitfield, 109. — Letter of 
1742. p. 11. 

Bogue and Bennett, their account of presbyterians in England, 204 and 

205. — History of dissenters, vol. 4. pp. 319 and 320. 
Bradley, J. excommunicated for becoming an episcopalian, 295. 
Breaking up of societies, caused by religious dissension, 348. 
Brown, two episcopalians of this name persecuted, 290. 
Brute creation, case of, in relation to moral action, 55. 
Bull, bishop, strong expression of, in relation to dissent, 362 and 303— - 

Nelson's Life of Bull, p. 469. 
Cain, his case, in relation to sincerity, 91. 

Calvin, his testimony to the necessity of the ministry, 16 and 183. 

Campbell, doctor George, denies the office of a lay elder, 281. — Lec- 
tures on Ecclesiastical History, p. 93. 

Chalmers, doctor Thomas, noble testimony in favour of the church of 
England, 323 to 325. — Episcopal Watchman of 1830 or 31. Quar- 
terly Review, No. 96, Dec. 1832. 

Checkley, John, fined and imprisoned for publishing a work in favour of 
episcopacy, 293 and 294. — Trial of John Checkley. 

Christ, a priest forever after the order of Melchizedeck, 148 and 149 — 
sends the apostles as he was sent, 150 and 151— promises to be with 
the apostles to the end of the world 151 to 154 — commands the apos- 
tles to teach all things whatsoever, &c. I55tol60 — establishes the 
christian tabernacle, 161 — glorifies not himself to be made a high 
priest, 163 to 165 — his marriage union with the church examined, 167 
to 171. 

Church, christian and ministry, permanent and unchangeable, 141 to 190 
— hath one body, with one head and many members, 171 to 174 — 
foundation upon the apostles and prophets, 177 to 180 — the pillar and 
ground of the truth, 185 to 190. 

Church government, question about, different from that relating to the 
ministry, 11. 

Church, Jewish, its inviolability and permanency, 143 to 147. 

Church of England, denounced by the presbyterians, 13 and 14 — vin- 
dicated from the aspersions of its enemies, 315 to 329 — names of some 
of her most distinguished divines, 326. 

Church of Scotland, the episcopal, denounced by the presbyterians, 109. 

Churchmen, alleged distinction into high and low, 22 — 23 and 24 — into 
evangelical and non-evangelical, 24 — with evidence of doctor Sprague 
in relation to England, 25. 

Clarke, doctor Adam, his testimony in favour of the church of England? 
322 and 323 — Christian Guardian, for Dec. 1832. Church Advocate, 
p. 84. 

Commandments, of God, all of them are to be obeyed, sermon upon, 38 
— great and little, sermon upon, 61 — breaking the least, text upon, ex- 
amined, 70 — baptism, one of, sermon upon, 73 — Lord's supper, one 
of, 75. 

Congregationalists, opinion of, upon church government and the ministry, 
17 — their heresies exposed, 213 to 226 — their persecutions exposed- 
290 to 298. 

Controversy, one of the evils growing out of sects, 351 and 352 
Cooke, John Esten, doctor, his conversion to the church, 269 and 270. 
Crucifiers of Christ, their ignorance examined, 105 and 106. 
Cutler, president of Yale, his conversion to episcopacy, 241 to 243. 



INDEX AND REFERENCES. 



379 



Cyprian, on schisms and heresies, quoted by Grotius, 19L 
Dartmouth, trustees of, remove prof. Hale, because he was an episcopa- 
lian, 296 to 298. 

David, psalms of, their spirituality, 66 — eats the showbread, 122 and 123* 
Deacons, according to doctors Dwight and Miller, to be ordained, 282. 
Discipline, want of, caused by schism, 356 and 357. 
Descendants of Seth, their sincerity, 91. 

Doddridge, doctor, on the alleged ordination at Antioch, 231 and 232. 
Family Expositor, vol. Hi. p. 181. 

Dwight, president, upon church officers, 18; and upon the apostolick 
office, 236 to 244.— Theology, vol. 4, p. 222 and 223. 

Dwight, Henry E., his account of the presbyterian heresies in Germany 
and Prussia, 2u0 to 204 — 'gives the German presbyterian views of pas- 
sive obedience, 201 — 202 and 303 — also their views on eternal pun- 
ishment, 203 — and upon keeping the Lord's day, 203 and 204 — his 
forebodings as to American orthodoxy, 220. — Travels in Germany ^pp, 
409-410-411-413-414-415-416-417-421 and 422. 

Elders, lay, according to doctor Miller, to be ordained, 279. 

Engles, doctor, his opinion of Congregationalism, 220 — Presbyterian., 
May 7, 1836. 

Enmity, one of the evils of schism, 353 and 354. 

Envy, spirit of, created by numerous sects, 351. 

Episcopacy, virtually admitted by doctor Miller, 278 to 282. 

Episcopalians, four persons excommunicated for becoming, 295. 

Errour, "do not err, my beloved brethren," this text examined, 161 to 163. 

Essentials and non-essentials 35 to 37. 

Eternal punishment, its justice comprehended by God alone, 366. 
Evils of schism, sermon upon, with sixteen examples, 346 to 360. 
Expediency discussed, 30 to 34. 

Expense, great, attending religious sects, 348 and 349. 

Faith not obscured or depreciated by the doctrine of these discourses, 

117 and 118 — greater demands are made upon it, 118 and 119. 
Fisher, James, his testimony as to a valid ministry or government of the 

church, 12. — Review fyc .43. 
Formality, the veritable child of schism, 354. 

Gib, Adam, his testimony to the necessity of a valid ministry, three first 

quotations, 12. — Warning, fyc, 12 — 22 and 41. 
Gift, the church with the ministry is the gift of God, 161 to 163. 
God cannot sin, because under no law, 57, 
Gorton, a familist persecuted, 291. 

Gospel, more rigid and obligatory than the law, 43 and 67. 

Grotius, upon schism and heresy, 190 and 191 — upon the use of the words 

bishop and presbyter, 233. — On church government, chap. xi. sec. 

9 and 11. 

Hale, professor, removed from office, because an episcopalian, 296 to 

298. — Valedictory to trustees of Dart. College, pp. 20 and 21. 
Hamor and bhechem, their sincerity, 92. 
Hatred towards God consists in disobedience, 44. 

Hawes, doctor, his account of the German and Swiss churches, and of 

the state of religion in New England, 224 and 225. — Tribute to the 

memory of the pilgrims, pp. 98 — 203 and 204. 
Hee then, may be saved, 136 to 140 — case of the centurion in the gospel, 

136 and 137 — centurion in the Acts, 137 and 138 — their conversion 

hindered by our religious dissensions, 331 to 345. 

32* 



380 



INDEX AND REFERENCES. 



Heresies, the consequence of a spurious ministry, 186 to 229 — Roman 
catholick, cause of, 191 to 195 — presbyterian, exposed, 195 to 212 — 
in France 195 — in Geneva, 196 to 198 — in Germany, 199 to 204 — in 
England, 204 to 206 — in the United States, 207 to 212 — congregation, 
al, exposed, 213 to 226. 

Higginson, a pilgrim, his eulogy on the church of England, 318. — Mag- 
nolia, vol. i. p. 328. 

Homicide, right when commanded of God, 52. 

Hooker, Thomas, upon the Dutch presbyterians, 214 — opposed to sepa- 
ration from the church of England, 317 — Mather's Magnolia, vol. l.p. 
308. 

Hostility, towards other christians, wrongly charged against the church, 6. 

Humility consists in a presbyter's not claiming rather than claiming a 
right to ordain, 8 and 9. 

Hutchinson, gov., gives five instances of lay ordination, 250 and 251 — His- 
tory of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 18 — vol. ii. pp. 369-370-374 and 375 — 
gives several instances of congregational persecutions, 290 to 293, same 
work, vol. i. pp. 19-116-141-173-181 to 189 and 319— shows that the 
pilgrims were averse to separation from the church of England, 316- 
317-320 and 321— same work, vol. i. pp. 368 and 369, 

Ignatius, perverted by doctor Miller, 271 to 273 — quoted by him to suit 
circumstances, 273 to 278. 

Ignorance, 41; part sermon upon, 104 to 113 — case of, in Leviticus, 
104 — of the servant which knew not his Lord's will, 105 — of Tyre 
and Sidon, 105 — of the crucifiers of Christ, 105 and 106 — of Paul, 
106 and 107 — Bissett upon, 109 — in what case guiltless, 372-. 

Infants, will be saved, 127 to 136- — their natural character, 128 to 130 — 
should be baptized, l30to 133. 

Infidelity of Germany, 200 to 204 — an evil of schism, 353 and 359. 

Jeroboam, his schismatick altar and ministry, 144 and 145. 

Jerome, on schisms and dissensions, quoted by Grotius, 190 and 191. 

Jewish church and hierarchy, their inviolability and permanency, 143 
to 147. 

Johnson, president, his conversion to episcopacy, 242 and 243. 

King of England, presents to livings in the presbyterian church of Scot- 

land, with an instance, 302. — London Observer of Feb. 25, 1833. 
Laity, great power of, in the episcopal church, 304. 
Lathrop, doctor, maintains the necessity of an uninterrupted succession, 

248 — 249, and 261. — Warning to the churches, Appendix, pp. 159 

and 161. 

Laxity of doctrine and practice, an evil of schism, 356. 

Lay baptism, discredited by congregationalists, 17 and 263 — is all that 
the baptists have, 261 to 263— case of Roger Williams, 261 and 262. 

Lay elders, according to doctor Miller to be ordained, 279 — office of, 
unknown to the scriptures, 280 and 281 — discredited by doctors 
Campbell, Baxter, and Wilson, 281. 

Lay ordination, justified by the New England divines, 234 and 235 — all 
that the congregationalists have, 248 to 267 — five instances of, from 
Hutchinson, 250 and 251 — two cases in Connecticut, 252 and 253 — 
contradictory opinions upon, of the New England divines, 255 to 
261 — sneering account of, at Gorham, 258 — of George Troop at Otis, 
Massachusetts, 258 and 259 — disproved by doctors Smalley and La- 
throp, 260 and 261 — remarkable case of John Allin, at Dedham, 264 
and 265. 



INDEX AND REFERENCES. 



381 



Laying on of hands, rejected by dissenters, 368. 

Learning, doctor, affirms the identity of apostle and bishop, 237. — 

Dissertations, p. 1. 
Liar, remarks on this word as used by James, 367. 

Lingard, doctor, a Romanist, vindicates the English orders, Parker's 
consecration, and disproves the nag's head fable, 309 to 312. — Histo- 
ry of England, vol. 7. pp. 301 — 422 to 424. Letter to the editor of 
the Catkolick Magazine. See Church Advocate. 

Lord's prayer, not publickly used by dissenters, 369. 

Lord's supper, commanded, 75. 

Love towards God consists in keeping his commandments, 44 and 45. 

Magistrates and ministers, compared, 165 to 167. 

Man of God from Judah, his sincerity, 95 and 96, 

Marriage of brothers and sisters, originally no sin, 51. 

Mather, Cotton, gives the congregational views of ordination and bap- 

tism, 17-18-234-235-255-256-257 and 266 Magnalia, vol. 2, pp. 

191-208-209-213-218 and 228— also their views of lay baptism, 17 

and 263. 

Mather, Increase, shows that the pilgrims had no ill will to episcopacy, 

317.— Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 227. 
McLeod, on the necessity of legal ordination, 18. 
Methodists, their divisions, 227 and 228. 
Millennium, idle calculations upon, 336 to 338. 

Miller, professor, on the necessity of legal ordination, 19. — Letters on 
the ministry, pp. 6-8 and 347 — Essay on the office of a Ruling elder, 
275 and 276 — on schism and church membership, 183. — Essay, #c. 
pp. 15 and 17 — rightly states the episcopal ground, 237. — Letters on 
the Ministry, p. 88. — perverts the meaning of Ignatius in four instan- 
ces, 271 to 273. — Letters on the Ministry. — makes Ignatius good or 
bad authority according to circumstances, six instances thereof, 273 
to 273. — Same work, p. 140. Letters on unitarianism. — Letters 
on the eternal Sons/tip of Christ, p. 163. Essay on the ruling elder, 
p. 79. Vindication in the American Presbyterian and Presbyterian. 
virtually admits the truth of episcopacy, 278 to 282. — Vindication — 
and Essay, pp. 235-243 and 278. 

Ministers, gross incompetency of, 349 and 350. 

Ministry, doctor Romeyn upon, 142 — and magistracy compared, 165to 
167. 

Missionary, inquiry from Bingham, one of that order, 336. 
Nag's head oidination, story of, refuted, 305 to 314. 
Natural corruption, 128 to 130. 

Neal, his account of the presbyterian act of parliament, 23^ to 288. — 
History of puritans, vol.3, p. 453. — discredits the nag's head fable, 
307.— 'Same work, vol. 1, pp. 180 and 181. 

Neologism of Germany, 200 to 204. 

Ncw-lightsof the presbyterians, 207 to 212. 

Obedience and disobedience, 45 and 46 — the obedience of Christ, 47. 

Objections to the elementary doctrine of these discourses answered, 
114 to 140 — it does not imply entire exemption from sin, 114 to 117 
— it does not obscure or depreciate faith, 117 and 118 — it elevates 
faith, making greater demands upon it, 118 and 119 — it furnishes a 
strong test of love, 120 and 121 — the case of the disciples plucking 
corn on the sabbath day, 121 to 123 — the case of David eating the 
showbread, 122 and 123 — the case of the priests, profaning the sab- 



382 



INDEX AND REFERENCES. 



bath, 122, and 123 — the washing of the disciples' feet by our Saviour, 
123 to 125 — the case of infants, 127 to 136 — the case of the heathen, 
136 to 140. 

Offending in one point, text upon, examined, 69. 

Ordination, power of, not to be conceded to self-made presbyters, when 
episcopal presbyters disclaim its possession, 9 and 10 — by presbyters 
examined, 229 to 236 — opinion of, by the New England divines, 234 
and 235. 

Parker, archbishop, his consecration proved to be valid, 305 to 314. 
Paul, upon sin, 50 — his baptism discussed, 76 — his sincerity, 102 — his 

ignorance, 106 and 107 — and Barnabas were not ordained at Anti- 

och, 230 to 233. 

Persecution, sermon upon, 284 to 298 — exhibited in a presbyterian act 
of parliament, 286 to 288 — by the congregationalists in New England, 
290 to 298. 

Pharisees, their sincerity, 101 — 370 — their blindness, 370 to 372. 

Pilgrims, their eulogies of the church of England, 316 to 322 — would 
not separate from the church in England, 316 to 321. 

Popery and presbyterianism, the two great causes of heresy, 191 to 229. 

Porter, doctor, his account of New England apostasy, 221 and 222 — 
his remarks upon revivals, 222 and 223 — upon church dissensions, 
356 and 357. — Letters on revivals, No. 6. 

Positive institutions as distinct from moral, sermon upon, 49 — the sab- 
bath of this character, 59. 

Presbyterians, old fashioned, exclusiveness of, as to the ministry, 12. — 
Three first quot itions, on this page, a e from Adam Gib; the last from 
James Fisher. — declaration of, concerning George Whitfield, the 
churches of England and Scotland, and a lawful ministry, 13-14 and 
109. — The declaration of the true presbyter ians, fyc, p. 4-10-15 
and 16. — heresies of, exposed, 195 to 212 — their views of passive 
obedience in Germany, 201 and 202 — act and testimony of 2000 of 
the eiders of the, 207 to 212 — opinion of the congregationalists, 220 
— their ordination examined, 229 to 236— have no real presbyters, 
244 to 248 — maintain the Romish succession, 245 — pass a persecuting 
act of parliament, 286 to 288. 

Quakers, infected with unitarianism, 228 — punished with death in New 
England, 292. 

Randolph, Edward, his letter on hostility to the church in Boston, 292. 
Rationalism of Germany, 200 to 204. 

Rivalry, spirit of, created by opposition of sects, 350 to 351. 

Rogers, Ezekiel, his account of religion in New England, 214. — Ma* 

titer's Magnolia, Vol. 1, p. 373. 
Roman catholick heresies, cause of, 191 to 195. 

Romeyn, doctor, upon the ministry, 142. - Sermon upon Ephe.sians, iv. 
3, pp. 25 and 26. 

Sabbath day, a positive institution as much as the church, 59 — breaker 
of, his sincerity, 93 — disciples pluck corn upon, 121 to 123 — priests 
profane, 122 and 123. 

Saul, case of, with the Amalekites, 53 and 94. 

Schism, account of, 172 to 177—188 and 189—335 and 336— evils of, 
sermon upon, with sixteen examples, 346 to 360. 

Selden, his remark as to bishop and presbyter, 238. Volume of his, 
printed at Cambridge, p. 127. — on reading and interpreting the scrip- 
tures, 349, 



INDEX AND REFERENCES. 



383 



Servant in the parable of the talents, his sincerity, 99 — which knew not 

his Lord's will, 105. 
Shakers, their blasphemous comparison, 228. Testimony or shaker bible, 

p. 214. 
Sin, nature of, 50 and 51. 

Sincerity in errour, sermon upon, 86 to 99 — continued, 100 to 104 — case 
of Adam and Eve, 89 and 90 — of Cain, 91 — descendants of Seth, 91 
— of antediluvians, 92 — of Hamor and Shechem, 92 — of the sabbath 
breaker, 93 — of Korahand others, 93 — -of Saul, 94 — of Uzzah, 95 — - 
of the man of God, 95 and 96 — of the servant in the parable, 99 — of 
the pharisees, 101 and 370— of Paul, 1<i2. 

Slander, a consequent of opposing sects, 352 and 353. 

Smalley, doctor, upon the New England clergy. 2 14 and 215 — on lay 
ordination, 260. Sermons, p. 41. 

Smith, doctor, John Pye, his testimony in favour of the church of Eng. 
land, including that of George Burder, 322. Sermon upon the neces. 
sity of religion, SfC. Church Advocate, p. 36. 

Spiritual pride, one of the attendants of schism, 354 and 355. 

Spirituality, consideration of, 65-66-67-71-174-175-188 and 368. 

Sprague, doctor, on high and low churchmen, in England and America, 
25. Letters from Europe, p. 85 and 86 — his account of presbyteri- 
an heresy, &c. in France and Geneva, 195 and 196 — same letters, pp. 
19-38-39 and 41 — statement concerning unitarians in England, 206 — 
same letters, p. 129 — states that the English dissenting clergy wear 
the gown, 316 — same letters, p. 92. 

Stone chapel at Boston, case of, 215 to 217. 

Syllabus of previous sermons, 27. 

Taylor, Jeremy, his prayer, in relation to schism, 364. — Holy Dying, p, 
199. 

Timothy, his ordination examined, 233 to 235. 

Tithe of mint, anise, and cumin, text concerning, examined, 68. 

Toulmin, doctor, discredits the nag's head story, and exposes the ma- 
lignity of Voltaire, 307. — History of the -puritans, Vol. I, p. 181. 

Townsend, his lay ordination, atGorham, 258. — Journals kept by Rev, 
Thomas Smith, April 4, 1759. 

Transubstantiation, doctrine of, refuted, 193 and 194. 

Troop, George, his lay ordination, at Otis, 258 and 259. — History of 
Berkshire, pp. 315 and 316. 

Trumbull, doctor, gives two cases of lay ordination, 252 and 253. — His- 
tory of C onnecticut, Vol. 1, 285. 

Tyre and Sidon, case of, in relation to ignorance, 105. 

Ultraism, an evil growing out of schism, 357 and 358. 

Ungodliness triumphs with the triumphing of dissent, 359, 

Uninterrupted succession maintained by presbyterians, 245 — also by the 
congregational clergyman, doctor Lathrop, 248 and 249. 

Union among christians, necessary to the conversion of heathen, 331 to 
345. 

Unitarianism, in France, 195 — in Geneva, 196 to 198 — in Germany, 199 
to 204 — in England, 204 to 206 — first established at Boston, 215 to 
217 — progress of, in New England, 215 to 226 — harmonizes with uni- 
versalism, 228. 

Uzzah, his sincerity, 95 and 143. 

Uzziah, his assumption of the ministry punished, 145 and 146. 



384 



INDEX AND REFERENCES. 



Voltaire, a presbyterian's opinion of, 196 — disgraceful anecdote of, from 
doctor Toulmin, 307. 

Walsh, Peter, a papist, confesses the validity of the English orders de- 
rived from archbishop Parker, 308 and 309. — Introductory discourse 
p. 19. See Church Advocate. 

Washing of the disciples' feet, 123 to 125. 

Washington, an episcopalian and a communicant, 301 — 302 and 305. 

Westminster assembly of divines, their doctrine as to ordination and the 
church and ministry, 16-182 and 183 — Confession of faith, <$-c. — 
maintain the Romish succession, 245. — Divine right of the ministry 
of England, chap. 3, p. 43. 

Whitfield, George, denounced by the presbyterians, 13-14 and 109. 

Williams, Roger, his lay baptism, 261 and 262. — History of the Baptist 
church in Providence. 

Wilson, doctor, denies the office of lay elders, 281. — Primitive govern- 
ment of christian churches, p. 68. 

Winslovv, governour, shows the aversion- of the pilgrims to separation 
from the chureh of England, 318. — Magnolia, vol. i. p. 58. 

W 7 inthrop, Saltonstall, and others, their noble testimony in favour of the 
church of England, 319. — Hutchinson's History, Appendix, 487 and 
488. 

Witchcraft, punished with death in New-England, 291 and 292. 
Yale, president of, converted to episcopacy, 241 to 243. 
Zuinglius, extract from, in relation to sin, 57. — Serm. de provid. 



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